


Reaper and the Witch Pistols

by ADdude



Category: Soul Eater
Genre: F/F, F/M, Resbang 2020, Soul Eater Resonance Bang, Witch AU, kidliz - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-09
Updated: 2021-03-09
Packaged: 2021-03-16 00:42:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 23,925
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29941905
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ADdude/pseuds/ADdude
Summary: DWMA and the Witch's Realm are both in danger from Arachnophobia. To form an alliance, Death the Kid is partnered with pistols from the Witch's Realm, Liz and Patty Thompson. Coming together, they must stop Arachnophobia and the plot against them. Before they end up trapped in the spider's web.
Relationships: Death the Kid/Liz Thompson
Kudos: 5
Collections: Soul Eater Resonance Bang 2020





	1. Surprise Meetings

**Disclaimers: I own Nothing.**

* * *

Chapter 01: Surprise Meetings

The war with the witches had been going on for centuries. It had caused deaths on both sides of the battle. The DWMA and the Witch were tired of the fighting, and there were other threats.

Arachnophobia was an organization started by the spider witch Arachne and enemy to both sides. 

A meister and weapon pair were looking for a kishin egg. Instead, the pair discovered a man. He had been cheating death by transferring his into the bodies of his children. He had a blood lust that had been growing for centuries. He decided to take his urges out of some of the locals, which brought the school's attention. And when a vampire saved him, it revealed the existence of Arachnophobia to everyone. They even seemed to steal the oldest golem for some reason.

Months later, they started to hear whispers of the organization and that their leader had been dormant and had risen to act.

Arachne had always been a target for Lord Death; he had failed to kill her centuries ago. The witches hated her because experiments used witches ' souls. They branded her a traitor and were as eager to see her dead. Frankly, her whole family was filled with trouble makers, but they especially wanted her dead. After all, her actions had made the fighting between sides even worse. 

Oddly enough, her reappearance brought some hope for a peaceful resolution. 

Both sides prepared for the worse. They prepared for their chance to hunt down the witch.

0000

In a Brooklyn alley, two young girls huddled together in the cold. Their mother had long since left them to fend for themselves. The girls spent their days scrounging for food, fighting if they had to, and stealing when they had a chance. 

Liz, the older of the two girls, used some paper to give her little sister some extra warmth. Liz hated her mother for leaving them like this. Their mother was never the most caring, tended to treat them more like burdens but had made sure they had food. Then she decided it was too much trouble and just left. 

Liz tried to stay awake as long as she could at night; she was afraid something would happen if she slept. There creeps around and wild animals, and she wasn't couldn't to risk Patty.

She was young. How long was she expected to hold out? Her eyes started to grow heavy, and sleep began to overtake her.

"Nyamu"

Liz's eyes burst open, and she quickly got on alert. Floating above her was a woman in a cloak and a freaky-looking hat.

"Patty!"

"Ah!" Patty woke up with a startle.

"Transform!"

Patty didn't hesitate; they've had too many close calls to have the luxury to hesitate.

Patty turned into a handgun, and Liz pointed it straight and fired.

But before the shot could land, the figure was gone. 

Their bodies froze; Liz couldn't move and could barely breathe. It was like something was pressing around her whole body.

"My, my, my, you're so young and can transform?"

Liz caught the figure at the corner of her eye.

"I've heard of weapons being able to do that at a young age only when they have been through a lot." She hummed, "Nyamu. I'm sorry you've had such a hard life. It's a pity for girls so young and pretty to have to fight so early. Can you transform too?"

"Let me go, and I'll show you," Liz growled.

“He hehe, you have spunk. I wasn't expecting weapons when I came for you."

"Who are you?" Patty yelled as she tried to change back.

"I'm Mabaa; I've come to take you to your new home."

0000

There had been a power shift. Many of the witches that hid amongst the world were called back to the witch's realm. Some of them had started lives of their own; some even started families, the Head Witch allowed them to come too. 

It almost went unseen until DWMA noticed people vanish worldwide, and sometimes it was whole families. 

The school was worried, and it looked like this Cold War was about to boil over.

Then fortune seemed to turn.

"I can't believe she just found the Head Witch!" Spirit Albarn, Lord Death's Death Scythe remarked. 

Lord Death sighed, "Spirit, don't start it again. Look, this could be a good thing. So, let's not look a gift horse in the mouth."

"It's just my wife's vacation might lead to peace talks."

“Ex wife.” Azusa pointed out. 

"R-right," Spirit grew depressed at the reminder.

It was public knowledge that Spirit and his wife had a turbulent relationship that resulted in them splitting. Once their daughter had gotten into school, Kami decided to go travel and find herself. She also found the Head Witch and ended up talking to her. The Head Witch took a liking to Kami, and they ended up speaking.

Azusa adjusted her glasses, "It's amusing that if you hadn't gotten divorced, this might never have happened."

"Hm," Death tapped his chin, "we have a chance at peace because Spirit couldn't keep it in his pants."

"That is one way to put it," Azusa confirmed, "though we should probably not say that around Kami, it would be insensitive."

"What about me?" Spirit pointed to himself. 

"Yes, should he be here?" Azusa noted, "it could make things awkward."

Lord Death reassured her, "It's fine, the Head Witch agreed that I could have three of my death scythes here. And Kami is mature enough not to let this get the way of the talks."

"I agree; I'm not sure about him, though."

Spirit was on the floor, mumbling to himself.

Death scratched his head, "Well, he is my death scythe. Plus, besides you and Marie, the others didn't reply or want to come. I still don't know what the deal is with Tezaca; I don't know why he let Enrique reply."

"Where is Marie, by the way?"

Spirit sniffled, "She's with Maka."

0000

In a nearby room, Maka was having her cheeks squished by a young blonde woman.

"Oh, I can't believe you've grown so much. I was with your mom when you were born! And look at you!" 

Maka tried to smile, she had some vague memories of the woman, and her mother had mentioned her a few times. 

Maka was a young girl in a black school uniform with a skull emblem. 

"Mis-Miss Marie!" Maka managed to pull away and rubbed her now very pink cheeks. 

Maka was still a young girl, barely starting school. It wasn't too exciting; she was still just in the Not class; they were not focusing on much more than what she would be taught at any other school at your age. They had studies concentrate on ethics; the school prided itself on raising their students to be ethical, especially when many of their students dealt with life and death issues. There were also classes dealing with physical activity to keep them healthy and helping those interested in going to the Eater class. Maka was doing her best to study and get into shape to get into those Eater classes. 

Maka was enjoying living in the school dorms; she had made a few friends there. She was nowhere ready to take a partner, but she was sure when she was older, she'd find a great one. 

"I'm sorry," Marie apologized, "I don't know my own strength."

"It's okay,"

"You look so cute in your uniform. I'm guessing you're going to DWMA like your parents."

Maka nodded, "Yeah, I'm going into the Eater class when I can, but right now, I'm still in the Not class."

"Ah, that's nice. Are you a weapon or a meister?"

"I'm going to be a meister like Mama. I'm going to make a death scythe even better than papa."

Marie chuckled, "That does sound like something your mom would say."

The door to the room opened, and tired-looking Sid walked in with a young boy walking beside him.

Maka blinked a little confused; the boy's hair was bizarre; it was pitch black and had three white half-lines through it. His eyes were a strange amber color. Maka had the feeling that he was her age, but he seemed a bit short. He wore a small black suit with a pair of shorts and a bow tie with the emblem of Lord Death.

"Hello, Mister Sid." Maka greeted the man.

Sid smiled at her; Maka was a playmate for Black Star, who he was the guardian of; he had hoped the polite girl would be a calming influence on the boy.

It hadn't been. 

It had made things worse; Black Star heard that Maka's mom was a big shot and made it his duty to beat her and show he was the top dog. Kami was an adult and a skilled meister, he wasn't going to get the drop on her, but that didn't stop him. Black Star found out she was coming back and was jumping off the walls to try and get at her. Sid had to lose him five times, and he had to pick up the boy. 

"Maka, meet Kid."

"Hello," Maka waved at him. 

The boy silently waved back at her.

"Ah, try and get along. Okay, so I don't know what they've told you. We are going to have some important people show up. They will bring in some kids, so we thought you would keep them some company. So everyone needs to be on their best behavior."

Both of them nodded; Sid shook his head, unsure why he needed to remind them. They were well-behaved children; he had just probably been around Black Star too long.

0000

The air was tense, much tenser than it had been in many years. Why wouldn't it? The witches were coming; the most powerful was coming. 

Lord Death was waiting with weapons by his side at the top of the stairs. 

Walking up the stairs was a woman in a black coat with long blonde hair in a ponytail. Behind her were three witches, the one in the center being the Head Witch herself. Only a step behind them were two young girls. 

The blonde woman cleared her throat, "Lord Death, allow me to present you with the Head Witch Mabaa."

For a moment, Lord Death looked at the woman in the dark cloak. Then his big white puffy hand stretched out. "Well, hi!"

Mabaa took and shook it. 

0000

The meeting took place in the Death Room; they brought in a large table for this meeting. Kami sat between two sides, Kami herself didn't think she was qualified to be the mediator for both sides, but neither side would agree on anyone else. The school vetted Kami first, making sure that her mind wasn't under a spell or anything. 

On one side of Table was Lord Death and his three death scythe, and on the other was Mabaa and two of her most trusted advisors. 

Kami clapped her hands, "Thank you, everyone, for being here. Peace isn't easy, but it's what we all strive for. Sometimes it's harder to sit down and just talk than it is to continue to fight. I know the fighting between our two groups has been going on longer than most of us have been alive. Today we need to push past that to build a better tomorrow."

Mabaa chuckled, "You've been working on that, haven't you?"

"Yes, but if anyone asks, I came up with that on the spot. It would make me so much better in the history books."

There are a couple of chuckles from that; Kami thinks it's good ice if being broken.

"Okay, let's get started. We're all here because Arachnophobia is a threat to all of us."

"Oh! Oh!" Lord Death raised his hand like an excitable child, "I have a question."

Kami sighed and motioned to him, "The chair recognizes the Grim Reaper."

"Yeah, I've had a question. It might affect how the rest of the talks go. What's with the girls you brought with you? You see, we've gotten reports of people missing lately, and there have been some suggestions that witches have been spotted around the area."

Mabaa replied, "They're witches."

"What?!" the other side of the table shouted.

Mabaa explained, "Well, not all of them. When we discovered Arachnophobia, we brought all the witches of the world to the witch's realm. Some of them had been hiding amongst your people. Some of them were living in isolation; some had even started families. We know not what Arachne is planning, so we brought them all into the realm for safety. Those two girls are witches that I adopted."

Azusa glanced over them, "You agreed that you'd only bring three witches."

Kami stepped in, "It's a little more complicated than that. Those girls are Liz and Patty Thompson; it looks like their great-great-grandmother was a witch. Their family hasn't shown much in the way of having powers. Their great-great-grandmother escaped from meisters and hid in New York, started a family, and died of old age. It looks like she never told anyone about being a witch," Kami pulled out some paperwork and reports, "Nothing to suggest any of them had magic. But it looks like one of their parents had some weapon blood in them. We think that had some unique effects."

Lord Death and the weapons looked at the news reports of the Brooklyn Devils, two girls attacking and stealing from people, and they were both guns. 

Marie frowned, "But this says they were transforming at a young age; I don't think I ever heard anyone transforming so young."

Mabaa told them, "At first, I came looking for them following the bloodline to see if there were any witches when I found them in an alley."

Marie blinked her remaining eye, "An alley?"

Kami sighed, pushing some police reports, "Their mother abandoned them some time ago and left them to fend for themselves, which is why they started stealing. I found their mother; two months after she left, she got into trouble with a gangster. And she's gone."

Mabaa added, "I would appreciate you not telling them that; I'm waiting until they're older when they can handle the news."

"Why did you bring them?" Spirit asked.

"That's my idea," Kami told them, "They are demon weapons; if things go well here, then some point in the future, we might consider letting them enter the school."

"Really?" Lord Death grew a bit tense at that.

"Children need to be around other children. That's why I suggested they meet with the kids if they can get along… well, if we don't make this work, maybe the next generation will have a better shot if we start them early."

0000

None of the kids were precisely social butterflies, but they were at least trying to put their best foot forward. The only one that was a bit on edge was Liz; sure, the witches had given them a nice place to live and plenty of food and toys. Mabaa said she was even going to help them learn magic. Liz wasn't sure about that, but at least Patty was happy. 

Both Liz and Patty wore nearly identical red and black dresses. Liz was at least happy that this was reasonably normal. Some of the witches' outfits were crazy.

"Come on! Let's do it!" Patty cheered.

"Fine," Liz grunted.

Patty climbed up on a chair and then jumped off mid-air; she turned into a gun which Liz caught. Liz jumped in the air, and in a flash of light, they traded spots.

"Ta-dah!" Patty smiled as she caught her sister in her gun form.

Maka and Kid both were amazed at the sight, they had grown up with the knowledge of weapons, but neither had ever seen anyone so young transform, much less so completely. Every once in a while, they'd see a child who could turn part of their body, maybe a finger into a dull blade or something, but never full transformation. 

Maka applauded and just noticed Kid's wide eyes and a certain sparkle in his eyes. Liz transformed back into her human form. Liz wasn't one to show off; extra attention didn't suit her; she knew she was cute and everything but still.

Liz found Kid staring at her and her sister; his eyes were practically shining.

It was weird.

Before she could talk about it, some other people came into the room.

The first was the blonde lady that grandma called her tea buddy.

"Mama!" Maka ran to the woman's waiting arms.

Behind him came a tired-looking red-haired man. "Hey, Maka."

The young girl ignored the man and focused on the woman setting her back on the ground. "Mama, how did things go?"

"Hm, I think it's good. We're finishing up for the day."

Mabaa walked in behind her and turned to the weapon, "Hello, Darlings. I hope you had fun today."

"Yup! Yup!" Patty happily chirped.

Then to Liz's surprise, Death walked in, "Hello, Kiddo!"

"Hello, Father." Kid greeted him.

Liz stared dumbfounded; that little scrawny twerp was the son of Lord Death? Liz tried to wrap her mind around it but couldn't. Kid was a bit pale but otherwise seemed pretty normal.

Lord Death picked up Kid and turned to Mabaa, "Well, it was nice talking to you. I know things weren't great, but I think we made some good progress. I hope this is the first step on a lasting friendship."

Mabaa nodded, "I hope so too, until next time."

Death started to walk away, only pausing to wave at them. Patty waved back while Liz decided to duck behind the elderly witch.

Kid mimicked the action, Patty returned the gesture and then nudged Liz to do the same.

Mabaa was making sure the girls had everything as they prepared to leave.

Kami was talking to Maka, "You want to go out to eat tonight?"

"Yes! I'd love to."

Spirit gave her puppy dog eyes, "Can I come along too?"

Kami was about to say something but must have noticed something at the last second and grabbed Spirit to move him to block something shooting out of the air vent.

"Got you!"

A loud blue-haired kid had jumped out and tried to tackle Kami but collided with Spirit knocking them both down.

"Hey, Black Star," Kami greeted him; her tone was resigned. 

"Hey, Missus Maka's mom." He greeted, his face still on the floor.

Black Star was determined to be the best, to the point of surpassing god, and he couldn't do that if he didn't beat one of the top meisters. He decided his best chance to win against her was to find an opportunity to surprise attack her. He tried to attack her any time he found out she was in town.

Black Star was covered in dust, and looking around dazed, Sid quickly grabbed him. "Not again,"

"You're never going to beat mama," Maka held her head high proudly.

Black Star struggled in Sid's arms, trying to take another shot.

"So, anywhere you want to go eat?" Kami began to lead her daughter away.

They left the unconscious Spirit on the floor.

"Come back, you coward! I will win!" Black Star continued to yell out.

Liz could only stare and say, "What a weird kid."


	2. Fox and Coyote

**Disclaimers: I own nothing.**

* * *

Chapter 02: Fox and Coyote

"Patty! Ribbit! I need you to pay attention!"

Eruka, the frog witch, and their tutor scolded Patty.

"Sorry, Miss Eruka," Patty apologized,

Eruka looked over Patty's notes which consisted of mostly doodles of her fighting giraffes. 

Liz sighed, she wasn't paying all that more attention, but she put in a bit more effort. Liz had drawn up the circle array in her notes, just like in her notes. Liz, to this day, was still surprised how much math and stuff was involved in being a witch.

Liz wasn’t loving their witch outfits. They consisted of red robes with a few flourishes they had added over time. Their hats were really the thing that stuck out. They had pointed witches hats, they formed snots with toothy grins and fluffy ears. They had to wear these whenever they did witchy things, like their magic lessons. Liz thought of them as the worst school uniforms.

It had been years since they had been taken in; they were both teens now. They had become half-decent witches since then. Mabaa had hired a bunch of witches to watch them and help them learn to use their powers properly. Patty had gotten good at transforming into her animal form, turned out Patty got to be the fox witch. Liz got to be the coyote witch; some of the other witches were trying to use that to make a nickname. They were trying to call them the Canine sister, but it wasn't sticking.

"Ribbit!" Eruka croaked, "Fine, make sure you practice when you get a chance. I know you don't like the math behind these spells, but they're important for bigger spells. The fact that you two are sisters and work well together is a big deal. You can merge your powers and do big stuff a lot easier than some people."

"Like the Mizune?" Patty asked, her arm outstretched in the air.

"Yeah, they can merge and pull their powers together, but they know how to do it. You girls need to learn this to make your powers work together." Eruka sighed, "Now head off to find the Head Witch she wanted to talk to you after you finished your lesson."

Things had changed a lot in the years; the witches' realm had grown more witches had come to the realm to hide from Arachne. The witches had allied themselves with DWMA; they worked together to find Arachnophobia and indeed hunt down any rogue witches that were causing too much trouble. They were still working out some of the details since weapons could only become death scythe by taking a witch's soul; there were issues. 

Soon enough, the sisters met Mabaa in her office. 

"Hello, Darlings,"

"Hello, Granny!" Patty greeted her back.

"I have to talk to you about something. You've been making good progress in mastering your magic. However, that has come at the cost if you are neglecting your weapon abilities. I'm sorry to say the witches here don't have much experience with weapons. So, I think it's time for you two to head to DWMA."

"Wait, what?" Liz asked, confused.

"You are to go to DWMA and learn to master your weapon abilities."

"Why are you bringing this up now? You never mentioned any of this."

"Well, you do need to learn to use your weapon abilities, and that where everyone goes for that."

"And," Liz poked, "don't try to scam me. I know there is something else."

"Well, maybe there is something else. Me and Lord Death have talked a lot about ways to help unify our sides."

After months of discussion, they formed a reasonably stable treaty; usually, they would meet in person a few times a year to deal with any new concerns. There had been a lot of deep-seated mistrust, so they had to work on it for a long time; this truce could fall apart at any moment, so the leaders couldn't get lazy and not work on constantly keeping things from falling apart.

Mabaa continued, "Well, among other things, we thought that having some of our witches join the DWMA would be a great way to bridge the gap between us and start to build more trust."

"So that's your plan?"

"I am not going to make you," Mabaa insisted, "you girls are more than free to stay here and continue as you have always had. I just thought it would be a good way to develop your skill and become the best version of yourselves along with helping out the whole witch community."

Liz glared, "Don't try that guilt trip."

"What guilt? I'm just an old witch that," Mabaa's voice started to sound old, cartoonish old, "took your both in from the streets and fed and clothed you, and treated you like my own daughters. I've only ever asked you to be happy."

"Aaah!" Liz yelled out, much to Patty's joy.

Mabaa honestly didn't ask much from them, mostly trying to be good examples for the others. That annoyed Liz. She hated the idea that she was supposed to represent witches; after all, it's not like her past was squeaky clean. 

Liz also hated how Mabaa would play the old lady role; it was ridiculous. Mabaa was old, but she was tricky, and her mind was sharp and had loads of energy; she looked old but certainly didn't act like it. 

"Plus," Mabaa said, her voice returned to normal. "you could spend more time with those friends you made."

The sisters wouldn't mind seeing them again; Liz and Patty would be brought along whenever they had these meetings, and they'd mingle with some of the kids there. Last they heard, Maka had met a weapon she was getting along with. Liz was wondering what kind of weapon Maka would go for. And that blue-haired loudmouth did manage to amuse Patty. Years later, he kept trying to get Kami by surprise; Patty loved seeing him fall flat on his face. They heard Black Star had found his own weapon, both of the sisters wondered who could think of partnering with him.

"And best of all, me and Lord Death have talked to him, and we think Kid would be up to being meister to both of you."

"Kid?" Liz let out.

"Kid!" Patty said excitedly, "Liz! Kid."

Liz blushed as she tried to look away.

Patty leaned in and whispered to Mabaa, "Back when we were really small, Liz had a tiny little crush on Kid."

Mabaa chuckled, "I noticed she always went so red when he brought her gift over."

"I'm right here! I can hear you!" Liz scoffed, "Yeah, it was a stupid little kid crush. He was cute, rich, and I liked his eyes."

"Plus, you liked how he always looked happy when you showed up," Patty added. 

"He was happy to see _us_ ; he's got this OCD thing about symmetry. It's just the fact that we like to match, wear the same color, and transform into the same weapons is what he loved. It's his precious symmetry! If we were twins, he'd go nuts over us and probably worship the ground we walk on!"

Mabaa chimed in, "That's part of, Kid has been looking for a weapon, but he's been having a hard time."

"Can't find a symmetrical one, can he?"

"Yeah," Mabaa admitted, "which would be why you'd be perfect for him. You already know each other and get along."

Patty slid beside Mabaa, "Come on, sis, it will be fun. And we shot people!"

Mabaa glanced over at the youngest daughter, "Maybe not focus on that."

"Sure, but we will."

"But bad people, right?"

"Sure,"

Liz was never sure if Patty was messing with them or not; she chose to believe she was.

"Look," Liz began, "I'm not sure if it would even work. Everyone can't use weapons; they have compatible wavelengths; me and Patty are sisters, so resonate easily. I'm not sure we'd be compatible. We're street thugs, and he's a rich little reaper boy."

"I think it would be good for you," Mabaa said a little more than a whisper.

There was no ulterior motive, just a sincere sentiment, which hit Liz harder than if she was trying to use them.

Patty looked at Liz, "I think so too; besides, Kid was funny. I think it would be nice to see him again."

Liz did remember the laughter; it was one of the first times she could remember laughing that much. 

Liz was a little upset when she found out Kid liked them so much because of symmetry. Liz wouldn't admit it, but it did suck; her first crush ended like that. Still, Kid made them laugh. Sure, his symmetry issues were weird, but in a way, it made them laugh. Seeing him freak out made them laugh; Patty used to put things out of order to see him fix it. Maybe it was a bit mean sometimes, but they were dumb little kids, and in the end, it made them friends. 

Liz paused; she wasn't sure when the last time she used that word like that. They lived on their own so long that they never had friends. 

Liz relented if only because she wanted Patty to know what it was like to have friends.

"Okay, we can try it, but only if our wavelengths work together."

0000

Kid smiled at them as they arrived in the Death Room with Mabaa.

"I'm glad you agreed to this,"

Liz huffed, "Only if our souls resonate, a lot of people can't resonate with everybody."

Kid nodded, "Of course, that makes perfect sense."

Lord Death spoke up, "And it's okay if you don't. I mean, Kid, you're a reaper; you don't have to forge your own weapon."

Kid told him, "I know, it's just I want to make my own weapon. I want to help make a proper death scythe that I know."

"Let's do it!" Patty yelled, excited. 

Kid held out his hands, and in a practice maneuver, the sisters transformed and landed in his hands. It felt strange, Liz didn't know why Kid held them upside down, but that didn't that matter.

Liz was sure it wasn't going to matter one way or another; when their souls didn't resonate, a weapon would weigh more than anyone could carry. 

The process was easy; it was something in the very nature of a weapon to reach out for another's soul. Liz felt her sister's bubbly, energetic soul reach out to hers. It was a familiar and comforting sensation.

Then Liz felt something else, something soft and cold but in a way that felt refreshing compared to her sister's passion. Before she knew it, Kid was holding both. The pistols' forms glinted with light, a skull formed on their handles with their silver fox on it for Patty and Coyote for Liz.

0000

Liz and Patty packed up; they were going to move to Kid's manor. 

"I can't believe you're leaving!" Tabatha, the Butterfly witch, lamented as she held onto Patty.

"It seems like it was just yesterday!" Taruho, the Firefly witch, cried out, "And now you're going."

Tabatha and Taruho were the governesses for the girls, basically, long-term babysitters that were supposed to teach them to behave and just keep them out of trouble. 

"And now you're going and snag yourself the rich boy that you crushed on," Tabatha sniffled, "Good work."

"Patty, did you have to tell everybody?" Liz buried her face into her hands. 

Taruho nudged her, "Oh, she didn't have to. Remember when he gave you girls flowers, and you couldn't stop talking about how a boy gave you flowers."

Liz groaned out, embarrassed; she hadn't even realized he gave flowers to Patty too.

Tabitha pulled out something, "We got you some going away gifts. We made them for you and tried them on."

The girls opened up the boxes to see a pair of jackets and belts with these big buckles.

Both of the Thompson sisters were red tops and jeans, Liz preferring long blue jeans and Patty preferring short jeans. To look a bit more professional, they also wore white ties and dark boots. 

They also both got these cool-looking black leather jackets; they had faintly emblazoned images of their animals, and she could see some faint marking of protection spells.

Liz had a silver buckle with a coyote engraved onto it. Patty's was a golden-bronze buckle one with a smiling fox on it. 

"I LOVE IT!" Patty yelled at the top of her lung before jumping on them for a hug.

Liz looked at her jacket, "this looks great, thanks."

"Come here!" Patty pulled her into the group hug.

Soon they would move in with Kid, but this would always be their first real home.


	3. Stealing

**Disclaimers: I own nothing.**

* * *

Chapter 03: Stealing

Kid insisted that they train A LOT!

Liz could get it to some extent, learn to work together so that when you're in a fight, you know what you were doing but were overdoing it.

Plus, he kept training them to pose. Kid wanted to de-transform so that they'd be in a perfect symmetrical position. Why? Why did they need to do that?

Liz just wanted to pull out her hair, or better yet, pull Kid's hair. Maybe shave half and see how that felt.

The only respite from all of it was that Patty loved messing with Kid. Liz was so sure Patty was messing up on purpose to get him riled up.

"Patty! You are out of position again!"

"Sorry, Kid,"

"You need to be two-inches to your left so that we can be in a row and perfectly symmetrical."

Liz sighed as she brushed her hands through her hair; she wasn't sure if this would work out.

0000

Their first mission together wasn't going all that great.

They were after the Phantom Thief Lupin; he was one of the world's greatest thieves. He was a would-be Kishin; the only difference between him and others was that he was cunning. He was driven by the thrill of attaining his hard-earned treasure. He preferred to enter a Mob's base sight unseen and leave with their troves of souls.

Then with his victory, he would feast on the souls. Just because he didn't kill people himself didn't mean he wasn't on a path of the kishin. What was worse was that where most kishin became more vicious and stronger, he became quicker, more agile, and more cunning. If it weren't for his obsession to leave a card with his name, he wouldn't even be known. 

In the chaos he sowed, gangs fought wars against each other as they blamed one another for the thefts. Many innocent people died in the crossfire, along with the criminals. 

The only real advantage they had was that Kid could see souls. So, they headed out to where they heard one of his last cards to show up. Who broke in to leave a note that they were going to come back to break in?

They spend days staking out a gang's hideout in France. That annoyed Liz to no ends; she was in the city of lights, and Romance but she was stuck in a beat-up apartment spying on a nearby house of a known criminal. They couldn't leave; they were just stuck there spying in a place. They were there for nearly two weeks when Kid finally spotted someone sneaking into the house. 

So, of course, they had to break into. 

That was when all hell broke loose.

Kid is far from a world-class thief, and his presence screwed up Lupin's plan big time.

The gang found them because of all the noise Kid was making and started shooting like crazy.

Lupin, with a big bag of soul, jumped through a window shattering it. 

"Come back here!" Kid yelled out, firing a few shots.

Lupin didn't even bother to look back. Kid jumped behind him; he landed on his feet like a cat.

As they ran, the gangster fired at them.

"Kid! I think we do the thing!" Liz shouted.

Kid gracefully dodged the bullets, but he would have to agree that someone would get hurt if he didn't do something quickly. 

Kid quickly turned around and aimed the pistols at the building a while, avoiding the shots. "Please hurry."

"Don't rush us!" Liz yelled.

Kid was a bit hesitant to be a part of the girl's magic.

The pistols had started to glow light blue, at the end of the barrel of the guns formed miniature magical arrays. The sisters began to chant together, pulling their magic together. Kid could feel magic tingling through his entire body. Kid struggled to keep the guns steady as energy channeled through them. Their chanting grew louder; the array grew bigger and bigger.

"Now!" Their voices rang together. 

Kid pulled the triggers and felt his soul's wavelength merge with the magic and erupted outwards. The building was quickly engulfed with the same blue light. All the gangsters paused before collapsing.

"Tired!" Patty bemoaned.

They casted a sleep spell; they had been playing around with their weapon abilities and their magic. Preparing a spell before a shot could let them shoot the spell at someone. If they let the blast charge, they could even make one big blast and hit a whole area.

Now that all the gangsters were knocked out, Kid went back to chasing after the thief. It was a nice little skill that let them do some more stuff; the problem was that bigger things would wipe them out.

Kid started to chase after Lupin. Kid leaped onto a nearby building and started to run as fast as he could. Lupin was parkouring away from them, but Kid was quickly closing the gap. 

"Go, Kid! Go!" Patty cheered, "Faster Kid!"

"Patty! Stop egging him on!" 

"Oh, sorry! I bet you wanted to say that to Kid!"

"Patty, no!"

"Gotta Go Fast!"

Liz was annoyed by how often Patty teased her about her crush on Kid, not that she had one anymore. It was only made worse by Kid never getting what Patty met. Liz never thought Patty would be too subtle.

Finally, they had a bit of luck; Lupin took a wrong turn and ended up in a dead-end. Kid landed before him, blocking off his escape route, the pistols held steady, ready to end this. 

"Master Thief Lupin. We're here for your soul." Kid stared at him, "…. girls."

"Oh!" Patty chirped.

"No!" Liz insisted, "we're not posing now!"

"Liz!" Kid shouted.

"No! It's one thing if we pose before a fight. It's your thing; Patty likes it and can psyche us up. I'm willing to try it out! But not in the middle of a fight!"

"But-"

"No! I mean- look!"

Kid turned his attention to Lupin; he was jumping up and down on the bag of his loot, desperately trying to push it down a manhole. Lupin paused for a moment and saw Kid staring back at him. He started to jump with an ever greater fervor before the bag slipped into the hole along with him.

"You see!" Liz yelled out. 

Kid didn't argue about that at the moment. "Hm, how about we try that thing?"

"The homing shots!" Patty yelled excitedly. 

"Fine! It's better than trying to run down the sewer." Liz sighed.

Kid held out the pistols, letting his soul resonate with theirs, feeling the magic they shared. Kid didn't have any real experience with magic, so he had to follow the girl's lead whenever he got involved. He had to listen to the sound of their souls and follow their leads. But the same was true for them, his soul created the shots, and they laced it with their magic. Rings of energy spooled from the pistols around his arms. Kid took a breath letting his soul reach out to the world at large, letting his soul perception stretch out. A map of the city opening up in his mind; he could see the souls of everyone in the area, including the soul of the thief. Kid had a pretty potent perception, but it pushed the perception into the plus with his two pretty pistols.

He closed his eyes to focus on his perception and fired. They felt the shots whizzing, cutting through the air, and they could control the shots. The shots quickly moved down the hole and went down the paths, quickly gaining on the thief. Lupin quickly spotted the energy balls following him and tried to outrace them, but he couldn't. Lupin's eyes went wide as the shots tore through his body. His body was torn asunder, leaving behind a red soul. 

The deed the trio breathed out hard, Liz and Patty were so worn out they couldn't even hold their forms anymore. They collapsed onto the ground exhausted; even Kid found his feet giving up on him, though it didn't help Liz transform over him, and she fell onto him.

"Huh?" Patty smirked, "Ya really wanted to end up on Kid, huh?"

"Gah!" Liz yelled out,

"Okay, okay, okay," Patty motioned, "I'll go get the soul and give you some alone time. Besides this one is my soul anyway."

It annoyed Kid, but there wasn't anything he could do about it; every once in a while, they'd have uneven souls count. 

While Kid planned out the souls, Liz blushed furiously about her little sister teasing her. Patty jumped into the sewer, "Hey, I notice you haven't got off his lap!"

"Gah!" Liz jumped off Kid.

"Patty, you are going to take a long shower tonight!"

0000

After everything was said and done, Liz laid down on her bed after a nice long shower. They headed back to the hotel to rest up. Liz was now relaxing using a hairdryer to dry up; she was also hungry; maybe she'd look for a snack before going to bed. It's not like they had much time; they were going to head back to Death City the following day. Liz didn't have the energy to even argue with Kid about staying a little longer. She wasn't fancy pants, she didn't care all that much about art or culture or anything, but as a girl growing up in Brooklyn she would have liked to see more of the world. 

"You're out of your shower?" Patty asked, "Good, Kid said he was gonna come and take us to eat to wear something fancy."

"Oh, that's nice, I guess. Do you need help picking out a dress?"

"Nope, I'll be fine," 

They shared a deluxe suite, and Patty ran off to her room; Liz went to her own to find something nice to wear.

Liz was a little surprised but didn't think much about it; I mean, they had worked hard to get Lupin, so it made sense that Kid would try to reward them. 

Liz slipped into a lovely red dress, put on a little bit of makeup, and put on some stunning earrings. It looked like it was just in time as there was a knock on the door.

"Liz? Patty?"

"Hey Kid, I'll be right over."

Opening the door, she was greeted with the sight of Kid, wearing a nice suit, an elegant-looking dark blue dress shirt. Liz thought she could smell a fancy cologne. She wasn't going to say it, but she liked that he was putting in an effort she hated when guys left girls to make all the effort.

Kid smiled gently, "Good evening, Liz. It looks like you are ready to go. Is Patty?"

"Uh… oh, yeah, Patty!"

Patty walked out of her wearing her pajamas. "Hey?"

"Patty, how are you not ready?" Liz asked, 

"I'm sorry, sis. I'm feeling tired. I think I'm just going to go to bed."

Kid pointed out, "But dinner was your idea."

"Yeah, well," She shrugged, "I'm very sleepy, but you two can still go to a nice dinner together."

"But- you know Kid, he's got that whole symmetry thing."

Kid cleared his throat, "I'm not that bad, Liz. I might not be able to wield both of you as weapons, but I have no problem with having just one of you accompany me."

"Well, have fun," Patty smiled widely, "don't worry, I won't wait up for you." 

Patty transformed into a fox and just stared at them.

Liz wanted to say something; she wanted to say anything, but it was hard enough getting puppy dog eyes from Patty; it was impossible to say no when she had actual puppy eyes.

Patty scampered off; the next thing Liz knew was Kid linking her arm with him, "Shall we go?"

"Uh, yeah, I- yeah." Liz looked away, suddenly feeling her face go red.

0000

Liz had remained quiet their whole trip to the restaurant, though inside her head, she was screaming the entire way. She also planned out some choice words for her sister when they were alone in a preferably soundproof room. 

Liz barely registered when they arrived; they were at the top of the Eiffel Tower, with a beautiful view of Paris. Liz was speechless; all the lights laid down before her; it was like they had a night sky just for themselves.

There was a small table with some candles for lighting, and Kid said something to the waiters, and they removed the third chair and fixed up the table a bit. 

"Wow…" Liz just stared dumbfounded. 

"Yes, they usually don't do this sort of thing, but well, you know my father. You mention he's your father and people make things happen." Kid scratched the back of his head, "I wanted to do something special for you girls. The entire top floor is just open for us; the wait staff is from the best restaurant along with the best chef."

"Well, that is pretty special."

"It's too bad Patty didn't want to come. But it is so hard to change her mind, isn't it?"

"Yeah… yeah, you don't have to tell me. I've known Patty for so long- like her entire life." Liz was trying to keep her cool.

The waiter walked them over to the table, and Kid pulled out the chair for her.

They gave them some menus and sparkling water.

"Beautiful, isn't it? All those sparkling lights,"

Liz found herself looking at Kid, how his beautiful gold eyes sparkled, and that small warm smile of his that made her heart beat a little faster.

"Beautiful, yeah,"

A few minutes later, the waiter came and took their order; Liz found it hard to focus on much. They found themselves talking about all sorts of things, little things, big things, her life after she learned she was a witch, Kid growing up as the son of Death. They hadn't talked like that in a while; it was so strange that they could speak casually about anything and everything. She wasn't sure she had that with anyone, even her sister. 

There was a flash of light, and the waiter put away his camera and printed out a photo.

"For you, to remember your night."

The waiter handed it over, and it was a simple picture of them together and the starlight behind them. Liz stared at Kid; they were smiling at each other, this mysterious smile that she didn't have the heart to decipher.

"Liz?" Kid's voice broke her from her thoughts, "I thought that maybe we don't have to go home tomorrow."

"What?"

"Well, it's yours and Patty's first visit to Paris, maybe we can do some sightseeing. We could spend a few days together just walking around and looking at everything, and experience the city."

"Hm, yeah, I think that would be fun."

"I'm happy, maybe you'd like to take a walk with me tonight, so we can look around and see where we'd go tomorrow."

Liz smiled; I'd love it."

Kid got up and offered her his hand; before she could process it, she took it. She didn't mean to, but she squeezed it. It didn't take them too long to start walking around the city. When it got colder, Kid placed his jacket on her. They just walked, looking at the monuments and imagining the history behind them. At the end of the night, they found themselves at a cafe having drinks listening to street performers play their guitar. Liz couldn't explain it, but it felt like they were playing just for them.

They didn't know when they got back to the hotel, just that it was late. Liz finally took off her shoes and changed into her pajamas; she was tired. She took one last look at the picture before placing it on her nightstand. 

With a small breath, Liz held the pillow close to her and decided maybe she wasn't going to yell at her sister.


	4. Curse of the Mummy

**Disclaimers: I own nothing.**

* * *

Chapter 04: Curse of the Mummy

They had been together for a while; as a team, they were strong. 

People seemed to think they were doing an excellent job since even witches seemed to hold them in high regard. The tension between the school and the witch's realm was still high, and the realm seemed to hesitate, sending the school to capture other witches. There were fears and the stigma that they might kill them. It made more sense than sending a team with witches to catch them. 

And that was their mission today. 

Kid and the sisters were flying on Kid's flying skateboard; Liz had to ask where he had gotten that one. She didn't mind flying that way, even if she had to stay in pistol form for the ride, but Liz hated deserts; it all looked the same, so she didn't get a view. Plus, the sand was coarse, rough, and got everywhere.

Anyway, the witches got word that there was a witch in Egypt taking tourists and anyone else she could get to turn them into mummies. Necromancer freaked Liz out, turning people's corpses into monsters and everything, just not for her. From what they could tell, she was trying to make an army for Arachnophobia. 

Their mission was this, put down her army and bring her in alive so they could question her. 

They landed in front of the Temple of Anubis.

"Ah, the Temple of Anubis," Kid marveled at the pyramid with this white jackal statue on top.

The sister transformed back and stretched out after the long trip. 

"The Ancient Egyptians knew the beauty of symmetry and put it in place in their architecture."

"Hm?" Patty mused, "Doggo!"

Kid cleared his throat, "Actually, that's Anubis, the ancient Egyptian God of Death who the jackal represented."

"Was a relative of yours, Kiddo?"

"Actually-"

"He's a dog like us, sis!"

Liz snorted, "Kinda, I guess,"

"Well, you can transform into a fox and coyote; that's a jackal." Kid tried to explain.

Patty replied by turning into fox form and jumping into Kid's arms, "Aw, don't feel so bad, Kid. It's not bad that you got to be a kitty."

"Kitty?"

"Death the kitty?"

"I'm not any sort of feline,"

"Really? Are you sure? You're all limber and stretchy like a cat; I've seen you land on your feet like a cat. Plus, I'm pretty sure I've seen your yellow eyes glow in the dark like a cat."

Kid huffed, "They didn't glow, they just reflected a lot of light, and-"He paused, "You're teasing me, aren't you?"

Patty just stuck out her tongue and shrugged; Liz was trying to break out laughing.

Patty transformed back and the group started to march back into the pyramid. 

They had a small issue when Kid wanted to head back home to ensure that a painting was symmetrical, but Liz stopped that. 

Liz dragged him back inside, "Nope, we aren't having another repeat of Budapest; the painting is fine, and if isn't. You can fix it when we're done."

"Liz, you don't understand."

"I understand plenty; you aren't going to run off, leaving us in a scary pyramid with monsters."

From out of the shadows stepped out the monster. They were mummies, large puffy figures wrapped in bandages; they had mask-like faces with just smiles and dots for eyes.

"Uh," Liz gulped, "they don't look all that scary."

Their mouths stretched wide open, revealing rows of jagged teeth and a long tongue.

Kid moved forwards, kicking a couple back. "Transform!"

As more mummies rushed at him, the girls transformed into his hands, and he fired, blasting one of the mummies' heads apart. Kid wasted no time jumping into the air and fired at the mummies below. There was not much room, so he bounced off the ceiling and then again off the wall, always firing. Kid had to keep moving, knocking away the monsters as much as he could. They didn't have any breathing room to prepare a spell; they could only keep them turned around and knock them down.

Kid finally moved enough of the mummies in the dead center.

The trio had to focus, energy sparked off the gun, and they turned into canons in a flash of light. 

"Charging!" Their voices rang out together as energy pooled into the barrels, and the mummies rushed towards them, trying to move them, trying to tear them apart with their teeth.

If living with Kid did anything, it gave the girls patience. They steadied themselves, focusing on this attack.

"3.2.1. FIRE!"

Suddenly, both ends of the hall were flooded with light which tore about these monsters. When the light faded, several red orbs floated in the air.

Kid allowed himself to collapse onto the ground; the sister transformed next to him and leaned on him.

They've been practicing but forcing themselves to charge and fire an attack like that still took a lot.

For the moment, they were safe.

0000

Deep inside the pyramid, the witch shuddered, "They sent the traitors and the reaper."

The witch pistols had become somewhat famous amongst the witches of Arachnophobia. Arachne promised them freedom and the destruction of DWMA, so any that stayed with the Head Witch's forces were seen as traitors to the tenets of the witches, who were empowered by chaos. Those two girls had become symbols of that idea, not only joining the school but working with the little reaper.

She continued her work finishing the ritual symbols with the blood of a random victim. She could sense that several if not all of her mummies had been destroyed; it didn't matter at this point. 

Yes, she had hoped to raise an army for their cause, but that was not their primary goal. Inside this pyramid was the body of a mad Pharaoh who had come close to becoming a true kishin. He was captured and buried alive in a sarcophagus. They had no power to kill him, so they buried him and hoped time would do it for them.

His body had died, but the soul lingered and raged even now. All the witch had to do now was restore his body, and they'd have an ally worth dozens of armies. 

"Oh Pharaoh of times gone by, listen to my voice! Come to my voice! Join us, and we shall topple death! We will know no fear of death! We shall have freedom! You need only to serve us to know that and a new life."

She shuddered as she felt the power of the sacrifices run through the pyramid, the magic circle before how to crackle with energy. Then it stopped and the room grew quiet and still.

She looked on at the sarcophagus; there was a crack, a perfect cut formed in the middle of the ancient casket.

A voice dark and deep rumbled through the room, "I have no fear of death."

"Good, we are much the same."

"No, we are not, little witch. I will not serve another. The Pharaoh will not serve anyone."

Before she could react, a long bandage arm shot out, a large hand wrapped around her body.

There was a crack as she felt every bone in her body shatter. She tried to scream but couldn't as blood poured out her mouth. 

She was pulled into the sarcophagus and let out a muffled scream.

That deep voice resonated through the room, "Those who dare defy me will face the Wrath of the Pharaoh."

0000

After taking a short break, they got up and started to collect the souls, putting the kishin eggs into their magazines. 

"It looks like we're uneven," Kid grumbled as he noted Patty had one more soul than Liz.

"Yummy yummy, lots of souls in my tummy," Patty said, changing back.

Liz sighed, "Patty, don't say that,"

"What? Aren't we basically eating the souls? We are in the Eat class. I mean, even Soul's name is Soul Eater."

"Well," Liz scratched the back of her head, "I mean, yeah, but Soul is weird. I think he's trying to be edgy or something."

"Maka's boyfriend is weird," Patty confirmed. 

"Patty, Maka isn't dating Soul."

"You sure? I think she likes him."

As they walked down the hall, Liz waved her off, "No, they're not. I've asked; Maka says it's not like that. Plus, don't bring it up around her, she's got some issues, and she gets angry."

Liz twitched at the memory of dodging one of Maka's books before finding it suddenly embedded in a wall. Liz was not going to prod Maka about her romantic relationships.

Kid sighed, "Oh, Soul definitely has a crush on Maka; as for Maka, I believe she does have on Soul, but she has yet to realize it."

Both sisters paused and looked back to the reaper. Patty had a wide grin, and Liz just raised an eyebrow. 

"Oh," Liz started, "did Soul say anything about this?"

Kid shook his head, "No, but I know."

"How?!" Liz shouted; she wanted details. 

"I just do."

"That's it!" Patty threw her hands up in frustration, "Give a girl a little something to chew on!"

Patty kept trying to get something out of Kid, as they entered the main chamber, and they quickly went quiet.

There were magical sigils drawn in blood and a pool of blood with a witch's hat by the giant sarcophagus. 

The room shook as the sarcophagus pulled open.

"Transform!" Kid ordered; they had long since learned to listen when he yelled that.

The three jumped up, transforming as they did, Kid caught them and dodged the first attack. It was a razor-sharp bandage that stretched out and shattered the stone floor. More bandages shot out, like dozens of snaking reaching for them. 

Kid was forced to spin and dodge them. The speed of the attacks was even pushing the nimble reaper to his limits. They wouldn't be able to charge up an attack, prepare a spell, and the attacks were keeping Kid from getting any closer or giving him a moment to think. 

It could have been worse if Kid hadn't told them to transform the sister would have likely been cut to ribbons. 

But their luck would run out; there were the sickening sounds of flesh being cut followed by the sound of a body hitting the floor. 

The attack stopped, and Liz could hear her heartbeat in her ears.

Kid was on the floor, and his right arm was severed clean and lay a few feet away. Blood gushed out of the cut pooling beneath Kid. 

"KID!" Liz screamed out before she could stop herself.

Patty started to transform back to help Kid, but Kid stopped her, "Don't you dare transform!"

Patty flinched at his words but didn't transform.

Kid groaned, "If you transform, you will only get hurt."

Liz gasped as she realized Kid's severed arm was still holding her. 

The ground trembled as the Pharaoh stepped out of his sarcophagus, he was massive, almost as tall as this vast room.

"You are disgusting," Kid growled out.

This Pharaoh was completely asymmetrical; he wore a white mask with one black eye, wore a skirt that leaned towards one end, one hand was normal, and the other was a large hammer. That went without even touching on the odd ring around his neck.

Every bit of him was asymmetrical. The Mummy raised its club-like hand; Kid just had enough strength to push Patty away. With a thunderous thud, he smashed Kid and then again and again. 

This was something like out of a nightmare for the sisters. They were being forced to watch as Kid was beaten to death. They were tough to hurt in their gun forms, but if they tried to transform, they'd likely last less than Kid. 

Liz didn't want to see Kid die; her mind race for any sort of solution. What spell could they do before they all died? 

She could try and reach for Patty, but she'd never make it. Maybe she could heal Kid, reattach his arm. Liz knew it was possible; there was a pink-haired witch that had healing magic. She had been thinking about joining the DWMA. They talked a bit, and Liz even spoke to her about magic. Liz wanted to learn healing magic; she figured that it would be handy if someone got hurt. The problem was that magic was not the norm; Witch magic was about chaos, hers was about fixing stuff; she was a fluke; it went against the usual Pull of Magic. 

She was gun! She was made to blast stuff!

She was a coyote! It is basically a wild dog! They were good for scrounging around and biting! 

She was a witch, but most of her magic was to work with her gun form. 

What was she supposed to do?

Kid would die soon, and she and Patty would be next. She swore to herself years ago that she'd protect Patty, and she wanted to protect Kid too. 

In her panic, she felt something, a twinge nearby; she felt Patty and her fear. They were resonating through their magic; it was a thing for them. Some witch sisters did things; those mouse girls could merge. That gave her an idea; she had to hope, and despite how much she'd hate it, a big part depended on Kid's severed arm.

She connected to Patty to reach out to her and feel their bond as they resonated. Then she focused on Kid's arm, trying to use it to let her resonate with Kid. 

His arm might have a bit of soul in it, he was a reaper, and who's to say. Maybe it was all the necromantic magic in the air, but his fingers twitched. Magic coiled from the hand, and a spectral coyote snaked out and bit onto Kid's shoulder and arm, pulling them together. It was messy, but the magic fused the arm back to the body as they came together. On the other side, Patty flew into his good arm.

The Pharaoh paused, stunned seeing that Kid jumped up, kicking the far as hard as he could to stumble backward.

Kid looked up, blood dripping over his eyes; he glared so darkly that it would have made the ghost flinch. The sisters could feel Kid's heart beating wildly and her magic ramping up as their souls resonated faster and stronger. 

Pulling all the stops, they turned back into canons that were pointed right at the Pharaoh. This time they seemed to have drawn more power as the canons were larger. Kid pulled the triggers, and a blast of magic and soul wavelengths ripped out with a thunderous howling.

The Pharaoh found a massive hole in his chest; he didn't have a chance to scream as more energy poured, tearing apart his body. Soon enough, that energy shot out of him and through the wall behind him. White light filled the room, vaporizing the Pharaoh. All that remained was a single red soul.

"Disgusting," Kid managed to mumble.

Kid collapsed, Liz and Patty, transformed back, both of them shaking, their bodies feeling like they'd drop soon too.

Liz picked up Kid, "Come on, Kid, say something, Don't leave us, Kid."

He wasn't responding.


	5. Sisters

**Disclaimers: I own nothing.**

* * *

Chapter 05: Sisters

Kid had damaged the pyramid, like big time; usually, this would have been terrible, but that got attention and got them help faster than they could have gotten it by themselves.

Kid was out of it until they got back to Death City. They ended up bringing in that pink-haired witch. She used her magic to heal up Kid. Liz's magic trick forced Kid's arm into place and merged it; if Kid wasn't a reaper, odds were that would have killed him.

Lucky for Liz, he wouldn't even have a scar; she wasn't sure if he'd ever forgiven her if she'd scared one side.

Mabaa was disappointed that they could get the witch, but seeing the state Kid was in, she didn't doubt that they didn't have a chance to bring her back. 

The pink-haired witch was crafty; she used this to wiggle in to get Lord Death to make sure she got into the school next semester in the Not class. 

Liz admitted she respected that drive to get what she wanted.

Kid was told he had to stay in bed for the next few days, Nygus would check in on him, and Death would bring in some sort of consultant to make sure Kid stayed that way.

Liz had another issue, and her friends showed up to help with it. 

Liz plopped herself onto the bed while the others made themselves comfortable around her room. Patty and Maka were there, along with Tsubaki, Black Star's partner. Liz still had no clue how she managed with Black Star but more power to her. Tsubaki was super sweet and was tough when she needed to be.

"Liz," Tsubaki said in her soft voice, "what did you want to talk about?"

The older pistol took a deep breath, trying to force her thought to straighten up. "So, it happened when Kid…. well, when he was fighting with that pharaoh."

Tsubaki frowned; everyone knew that wasn't exactly a positive experience, "I'm sorry, Liz, I'm sure having to watch that must have been difficult."

"Yeah, I mean, it's not something I want to think about it but that's not it. Look, when we were bringing Kid back, I had to face something. When I thought he could-"Liz took a long drawn out-breath, "I had to let him know, I had to let him know I like him."

Tsubaki gasped, Maka's eyes went wide, Patty cheered, "I knew it!"

Liz wasn't ready for the attention, and she transformed into her coyote form and tried to hide under her pillows. 

Patty turned into a fox and crawled in after her. 

"Patty!" Liz shouted, and Patty yanked her out. 

Tsubaki helped her and grabbed the coyote, and stroked her head to try to calm her down. "Calm down, Liz."

"Tsu… I can turn into a coyote; I'm not a coyote. Please don't pet me."

"Oh, sorry," She put Liz back into the bed. 

"I like petting! Pet me!" The moment Liz was out of her arms, the little fox jumped into Tsubaki's arms. 

Liz grumbled; she liked being pet, it felt nice, but she wasn't in the mood. She stayed as a coyote because it helped hide her blush and expression; she wasn't in the mood to feel that exposed either.

Patty was a natural at turning into her animal form; it took Liz a bit more effort. She never saw much reason to do it; they just looked like their animals with fur the same color as their hair. 

Tsubaki tried to get her to talk, "Liz, what's wrong? Isn't it good to have a crush on someone? Kid is handsome and nice; he has his issues, but it's clear that he cares about you."

Liz winced again.

"But, I suppose it would be hard not knowing if he cares about you the same way you care about him." Tsubaki gave her a gentle smile, "You won't know until you ask.

"But- what if he doesn't feel the same?" Liz whimpered.

"But what if he does?" Tsubaki countered.

"Why would he?" Liz said, her tone barely audible, "I'm just a street hood that he only met because a witch thought she was interesting and adopted. In no other way would we have ever even met."

Maka took a deep breath, "No, I don't know if you would have ever had another chance to meet, but that isn't- look, I've known Kid for as long as you have. Ah-"Maka had to form her words, "In the end, all that matters is the soul. Knowing you and Kid, he wouldn't care about your past, just who you are now."

Patty chirped, "You see, Maka, support you too."

"I don't," Maka corrected her to the other girls' surprise, "look, I want both of you to be happy. Anything you do is up to you; I would never think I should decide what you should do. But, if you tell him how you feel and things don't work out, it could mess up your partnership. The friction might make it impossible for you to resonate. It could destroy the friendship you have. I don't think it would be the end of the alliance between the school and the witches, but it will make things harder; distrust could form from paranoia, and Arachnophobia could use that to further their goals."

It was like someone splashed cold water onto her, she didn't like it, but Maka made some good points. Even the alliance was always a little unstable; the witches felt comfortable because Kid's weapons were witches looking out for them. They might pull away if things changed.

And, Kid, she adored the life they had with him. It wasn't just about the manor or stuff; this place was home because of him. Yeah, his issues could be annoying, but it also made it fun. He didn't trust them to make food, which, to be fair, they were terrible at, so every morning, he'd make them breakfast and lunch too and most days dinner. If he didn't, he'd order food for them. He remembered things like holidays and birthdays that they always forgot. Liz had just gotten to the point that she never could do anything special for those days and forgot about them, they were just days, but with Kid, well, she got to celebrate stuff again. 

She didn't want to lose any of that.

Patty must have sensed her trepidation, "You know why I want you and Kid to get together?"

"Why?" Liz shrugged,

"Because I want the two people most important to me to be happy. You and Kid are always looking out for me, trying to make me happy. Now, I want you two to be happy." Patty curled up next to Liz, "And, if you and Kid are happy together, then I don't have to worry about our family getting pulled apart."

"What?"

"I want you to be happy, and if you meet a guy you like, I want you to be happy. But, if you gotta move or leave, then we won't spend every day together. I know it's selfish, but I want us all to stay together."

Liz sighed, changed back into her human form, and hugged her sister, "Yeah, I'd like that too."

0000

Kid healed up in about two days; everyone else insisted he takes the rest of the week healing.

That gave Liz a lot of time to think of what she wanted and what she was willing to risk. Liz was keeping a distance from Kid, and Patty, trying to spend time alone to try and just sort things out.

She was on the other end of the city when called for an emergency meeting back at the school. It looked like their time was up, and she headed to the school with thought boiling in her head. She started to walk down the maze-like halls of the school towards the Death Room, hoping that a solution would come to her.

And it sort of did. 

Liz found Marie waiting for Kami while the meister spoke to someone on the phone.

"Yeah, somethings come up," Kami sighed into the phone, "I don't know what, but something happened; people were frantic. I guess I won't be heading back soon as I liked. So, when I know something, I'll call you back," She waited for a moment, "Okay, yeah, miss you too. Talk soon."

That gave Liz an idea; two people she knew had a relationship with their partners. 

Liz walked up to them; Marie greeted her with a million-volt smile, and Kami greeted her with a practiced motherly smile. 

"Hi," Liz started, "so, yeah, this is a weird out of nowhere question, but I can't think of anyone else who would have an answer. What do you think of weapons and meisters getting into a romantic relationship?"

Both women paused and looked at each other.

Marie asked, "Why do you want to know?"

Kami's eyes just narrowed on her; she figured it out before Marie finished. "You and Kid?"

"You and Kid?!" Marie squealed, "Oh, you've known each other since you were little!"

"Marie," Kami paused, "you know-"

Marie swung backward; Kami barely dodged it in time, the fist cracked the wall behind her.

"Don't-"Marie growled, "You are always-"

"Trying to protect you, after Joe broke up with you, well,-"

"And Stein?"

"Oh! Stein! He's crazy! He was dissecting Spirit in his sleep! Yes, you help him calm down. I will admit he's a lot better than he was in school. And don't think I haven't noticed you looking at him,"

"You sound like Azusa,"

"Well, we don't want to see you get hurt."

"It's worth it," Marie said resolutely.

Kami closed her eyes and turned to Liz, "Yeah, I agree. It was terrible for both of us, it makes no sense, but I'd do it again. I knew back when we met that Spirit flirted and dated a lot, but when he said I'd be his one and only, I believed it. I think he believed it." Kami shook her head, "If what you feel feels real, then it might be worth it. What Spirit did, it broke me in a way I didn't think I could break. It hurt deeply, but it was great while it lasted. And, well, if I didn't agree to a date years ago, I wouldn't have Maka, and she was definitely worth the pain."

"Do you think Kid's worth it?" Marie asked. 

Liz could only reply, "What if it ruins things between us? If he doesn't feel the same, our partnership-?"

Marie shook her head, "Kid isn't the kind of guy who would let something get in the way of something you know is important to him."

Liz didn't argue with that. 

Liz just walked away and towards the Death room.

Kami sighed, "Did we do the right thing? I mean, this doesn't seem like there is a right answer, but-" 

Marie sniffled, "Why are you so upset? You have a wonderful daughter who loves you?"

Kami put an arm around Marie, "Don't worry, I'm sure someone is out there for you."

"That's easy for you to say!" Marie grabbed Kami and pulled her into a bear hug.

"Marie!" Gasp, "Need. AIR!"

As Liz walked down the halls and agreed, no matter what Kid thought or said, he'd never let it get in the way of their friendship. She was just scared of being rejected. Liz couldn't let herself be controlled by her fear; she decided to take everything off the board. Liz decided that when Kid had turned her into a death scythe, then she'd be ready. 

She couldn't say it was about breaking any alliance or anything.

She arrived at the Death Room with the two older women behind her. 

Lord Death stood there with Mabaa; Stein held Spirit as a scythe, two witch guards by a woman, and Kid and Patty.

"What's going on?" Liz asked. 

Liz then noticed this woman was wrapped in chains. 

The woman was blonde, wore a dark, almost green outfit, and her hair had its ends tied together in a braid ending on her chest. Also, she wasn't wearing shoes.

And she had a lot of snake tattoos.

The woman smiled at her, a cold and eerie smile, "Hello, I'm Medusa; I'm here to help you kill my sisters."

"What?"

Mabaa sighed, "Her name is Medusa Gorgon, as in Arachne's younger sister."

Medusa stepped in, "And Shaula older sister."

Lord Death stepped up, "Eh, well, Medusa here has come to us with an unexpected offer."

Medusa didn't let her smile falter. "My sisters want to conquer this world, drench it with madness. And, as appealing as that sounds, it is cutting into my passions and works. I had this plan with blood that I haven't managed to start because they've pulled me into their schemes."

Stein scoffed, "Yes, I'm sure it's a huge loss,"

"So, this is my deal, you can keep fighting them for years to come, or you can agree to my plan and end this war in one day."

Mabaa scowled, "How?"

"I know where the base for Arachnophobia is, and more to the point I know a hiding entrance. Right now, my sister believes I am collecting material in Mexico and expect me to return in two days, and that's when this offer expires. They will look for me and, failing to find me, will change all the locks. And, all I ask is that when this is over, you let me go. You don't follow me; I will go into hidden exile."

It was a tempting offer to end this before more people got hurt.

Medusa continued, "It's rather simple, the DWMA and the witches will attack the base, distracting the forces and pull away from anyone who might try to protect my sisters. I will have met them by that point, lowered their guard. Then a team, someone stealthy and powerful, will sneak through the hidden entrance. Well, it's the secret exit that my sisters installed in case we ever had to bug out, so no guards to stop you from using it. You come in and do what you have to do."

Liz spoke up, "And you are okay with your sister's getting killed?"

Medusa leaned in, "Oh? Are you those Pistol witches? Well, let me say that my relationship with my sisters is a lot different. And, if you don't stop it, Arachne's connections and Shula mind-controlling research, there will be plenty of things that none of us will be okay with."

"What do you mean?" Death asked. 

"Oh? I forget to mention my sister's plan to weave a web of madness upon the world in two weeks. They've gotten their hands on magic tools created by Eibon. When they set everything off, everyone they choose will be dragged into madness and forced to do their bidding."

Mabaa glared at the witch, "That sounds like something you would enjoy."

"Me? No, never. Humanity will not grow if they aren't forced to. Keeping them as servants will stunt evolution. I prefer to see what happens next; I would adore seeing the next stage of evolution."

Kid, Stein, Kami all looked at the woman's soul; usually, when someone lied, they could see their soul react, but this woman was too suited to lying to react if she did lie. 

That alone was worrisome, but if she were saying anything real, it would be horrible. 

The leader went off to discuss Medusa and what she told them. They kept her well guarded, the top meisters, the top the witch's guards prepared to strike her down if she should try anything. 

In theory, this could be the greatest chance to end the battle; already, violence had happened all over the world. The forces of Arachnophobia had attacked, stolen items worldwide, and troops from the Witches and the DWMA had fallen when they tried to stop them. That was not even talking about missing people on both sides. They believed that there had been civilians that had been taken for tests. The longer this lasted, the more they had to lose. 

After hours of talking, Lord Death and Mabaa returned but looked rather solemn.

Medusa herself looked no more weary by the experience, merely smiling, "Oh? Are you back? I was about to ask for a chair."

Liz had known Mabaa long enough to know when not to joke around with her; the look in her eye told her that she was ready to use spatial magic to tear apart a person. Hell, Liz saw it happen when someone working for Shaula tried to kill them. 

Mabaa said, "We agree to your conditions."

"Delightful," Medusa replied.

"Under conditions," Lord Death added, his foam-like hand holding up a finger. 

"That's reasonable enough,"

"We will implant you with an explosive, protected by Mabaa's spells; if you try anything, it will go boom." Lord Death did an explosive gesture with his hands, "If this mission goes well, we will remove and let you go."

Medusa smirked, "I wasn't expecting that, but agreed."

The crowd was a little shocked she didn't fight that.

"Under the condition that I am awake and conscious during the procedure."

"I'm up for that," Stein added.

"Uh," Lord Death added, "Well, I was going to suggest you for that anyway, Stein. Medusa, why?"

"Simple, I just want to make sure that no one uses the chance to add anything else, a tracking device or such. I am assuming I'd have some local anesthetics at least."

"Yeah, sure," Lord Death added, even he seemed unnerved by her behavior.

Mabaa ordered one of the guards to free Medusa enough to let her hand free.

"We will make a witches vow."

"I expected that,"

A witch's oath is a magical contract; both witches must make it willingly. Once created, breaking the promise could lead to losing their power, ruining their bodies, or even destroying their souls. No one was sure what happened; it depended on how serious it was breached and the stakes. At best, everyone involved could have terrible luck for the rest of their lives; no one wanted to break a vow.

"I, Medusa Gorgon, the second sister of the Gorgon Clan, the Snake Witch, enter into this deal freely. I will provide information, means, and opportunity to kill my sisters, the other leader of Arachnophobia, Arachne Gorgon and Shaula Gorgon, the spider and scorpion witches. I will also consent to have an explosive implanted into myself and magical spells placed, all to be removed at earliest convenience after the other terms of the deal have been met. Afterward, I will be allowed to leave unfollowed, undamaged, and with no means to track me placed."

Mabaa grabbed her hand, "I, Mabaa, the Head Witch, the Crow Witch in alliance with-"

"I, Lord Death," Death put his hand on the witch's hand.

"I agree to that term, the promise of her freedom and safety if she holds to these terms."

The three of them glowed; if they broke the term or even ordered someone to do so, they'd be in serious trouble.

That same damnable smile never left Medusa's face, "Well, you can untie me now. I can't escape without consequences. And, I have surgery to get to."

"What a weird woman," Spirit cringed at her.

Kami shook her head, "Yeah, the first time in a long time, but I agree with you."

Stein smirked, "Well, there you go, you might still have a chance with your ex,"

Kami groaned, annoyed by his jokes.

"Excuse me; I have to get ready for surgery."

As they moved out to his lab, Lord Death pulled Kid and the Thompsons to him and Mabaa.

"Okay, we are going to prepare for the battle, and we want you two to kill the Gorgons."

Liz was a little surprised; sure, she had no love for them. Arachne killed a witch and created the demon weapons; it kind of seemed like ironic justice. Shaula wasn't much better; her experiment made things worse; she was the one that made Tsubaki's family weapons and added that nasty cursed sword mode that drove Tsubaki's brother crazy. 

Mabaa explained, "We have been discussing it, of stopping the tradition of making demon weapons, maybe only using witch's we would put to death for their crimes. That has yet to be decided, but for the moment, we agree that you two, being on both sides of our alliance, should take their souls and become demons weapons."

"Already?" Liz spat out, "don't we need like 99 souls before we can even take a witch soul."

Lord Death chuckled, "You and Patty already have 99 souls; that Pharaoh soul you took tied you up. With the witches' soul, you two will be death scythes."

Mabaa nodded, "Though there are things to be decided, I have full confidence that you two will be more than fit to stand in both worlds as our mediators."

"Oh…" Liz hadn't realized how close they had gotten.


	6. Witches vs Witches

**Disclaimers: I own nothing.**

* * *

Chapter 06: Witches vs Witches

War, what is it good for?

Nothing, probably.

There was evil out there, and it had to be fought. Though that sentiment is somewhat lessened when put in perspective to the violence and pain that result. 

Medusa had been allowed to return to Arachnophobia so that her sisters would not be suspicious. 

Then they had to prepare and hope that everything went to plan. Medusa had to make sure that they couldn't set off the machine they had built and that they had to flee. It all went down to timing; Then their forces had to attack Baba Yaga Castle, located in the Amazon basin in a cavernous ravine. It was hard to get to, but that also made it hard to escape. Their forces charged them through the front and quickly engaged Arachnophobia's forces, a bunch of cloak-wearing soldiers with masks. 

Stein with Spirit, along with some of the other death scythe, charged at them. Black Star was with them; it would have made sense for the assassin to go on the stealth mission, except Black Star, and he was as subtle as a brick house.

Luckily, telling him, they needed his power on the front line was enough to keep him from trying to sneak along.

On the other side, the other had found the exit by some boulder overlooking the ravine. The group entered the passageway as they went into their meeting place. 

Sid with Nygus took the lead; they were going to keep their eyes open for any traps. 

Kami wielding Marie followed; she used her soul perception to find any surprise attacks that might be waiting. 

Kid followed with the Thompson sisters and Maka with Soul, using her soul perception to see if anyone was trying to sneak behind them.

The weapons all stayed on their weapon form; it was safer for everyone involved. The elder meisters were going ahead of them with Maka providing support. In the meantime, Kid and the sisters would prep any spells they needed and then attack when the time was right. Ideally, they could land a killing blow quickly on both witches, but killing one killing and everyone teaming up to finish the last one would work. Working fast and taking them by surprise was their best bet; these were powerful witches, and even having a reaper with them wasn't going to make it all that easy.

Eventually, they reached the end of the hidden path; it was a secret entrance that Medusa had told them about; pushing past it would reveal themselves to the witches, and the battle would start.

Sid looked back at Kid, "Okay, remember, wait a moment before you rush in. We will provide a distraction and take the opening when it happens."

Kid nodded; he watched them rush through the false wall. It didn't take long for them to hear yells and battle starting. 

Liz, for her part, tried to clear her mind; she couldn't focus on her feelings for Kid; they were going to put a stop to this war. Everything would be easier with fewer distractions and fewer worries. For now, she had to do her part and keep Patty and Kid safe. There was always that fear in the back of her head, afraid that she'd lose them, but she learned long ago she couldn't let that control her, or she might lose them for real.

So, for the moment, she and her sister relaxed, pulled in their magical energy getting ready to use it. 

Kid's eyes went wide, "I think we are losing the fight."

'What's wrong, Kiddo?" Patty asked. 

"Three more souls have entered."

Liz shrugged, "And? We were hoping all the guards would head out to the front to protect the base, but we knew someone of them could have stayed back. We've fought those robe guys before; they're not all that tough."

"No," Kid told her, "these three souls are odd, one of a weapon filled with blood lust, and the other two are non-human. The others are forced to fight them instead of the witches. The longer this lasts for, the less chance they have to come out of this, and it gives the witches a chance to escape."

"We're going in!" Patty said in her best action hero voice.

Kid smiled at that before he rushed in. 

Kid burst through the door, guns ready; they weren't prepared for what they found on the other side. 

Sid and Nygus were fighting a strange man in a black suit, top hat, and mustache. His body had bloated with muscles as he slammed his large fist around, trying to squash Sid like a bug. 

Kami was dodging a chainsaw; a vicious-looking man turned his feet into saws and tried to slice the blonde up. The chain collided with the hammer, and sparks shot out wildly. 

Marie hissed in pain, but she was a death scythe and willed through it.

Maka was holding off the wolf-man; he looked very much like a half man half wolf in a black-white outfit. Purple energy wafted off him, which usually indicated some spell was on him; the fact that his left eye had a glowing scorpion tail symbol hinted towards that more so. 

“Well, well,” Arachne spoke her voice like honey. 

She was a beautiful woman with an air of elegance; she wore a black dress with webs and a spider-themed necklace around her neck.

Shaula was not as beautiful as her sisters, she was thin and pale, and her black Japanese schoolgirl outfit made her lookout for some horror movie killer. She might have been able to pass off as a high school if not for her strange purple hair with a peculiar glowing pattern in it. Her long hair was in a long braid shaped into a scorpion tail. Her eyes were weird, with iris split in half with those two strange shades of purple. She had on a single gold earring with the Scorpio symbol.

Liz didn't get why witches were so in theme with their animals, she did have a nice coyote jacket and belt, but those were gifts.

Medusa was with them, but she wasn't likely to act; she had only promised them she'd give them a chance.

Kid fired off several shots, Arachne just pulled out a fan, and a web-like spell blocked the blast.

Medusa smirked, "I would have thought a reaper would have been more of a threat. The way Arachne described her fight against Lord Death."

Shaula added, "Maybe that's why she decided to have two men fight for her."

Arachne shot back, "Well, men adore me. You, on the other hand, could only get a wolf to fight for you, and only after you brainwashed him."

"She does have the worst luck with men," Medusa added on. 

Shaula grit her teeth, "Well, I was blessed with brains not-" she motioned to their chest.

Arachne just playfully looked at her sister, "We will not apologize to be blessed with both,"

Kid tried to use this argument to try and land a blow, but they just blocked it. 

Medusa suggested, "Shall we pull out powers together and take out the reaper once and for all."

Though they could tell the Kid was much weaker than Lord Death, it made sense to squash him before he could try anything. The three witches joined their hands and pulled their magic together.

Kid tried to rush them, but a wave of magic arrows, webs, and surreal purple colors washed over them. Kid tried to move but found himself stuck to the web.

The world was black, and they fell onto a large web made of various purple-colored arrows.

Arachnes's voice echoed, "Welcome to my parlor, said the spider to the flies."

"Really? That obvious, could you be any more cliche?" Shula's voice echoed.

Medusa sighed, "How have we managed to work for years together without trying to kill one another?"

"I've wanted to." The other two sisters replied.

The three witches stood over them, unbound by the webs. 

Arachne leaned down a bit, "We want the reaper dead, but I am willing to spare the weapons." The spider witch studied the guns, "You are after all witches and weapons. Being the mother of weapons, I'd feel terrible to let such potential be squandered."

Shaula nodded, "I would love to see how you are different."

"Over our dead bodies!" Patty yelled.

Shaula snickered, "That can be arranged."

"Don't you dare touch her!" Liz shot back. 

Kid glared at them darkly, but that only got a chuckle from the eldest daughter.

"You look at me as your father once looked at me," Leaning down, she stroked his face, "You're such a handsome young man." She pulled back, "And such pretty girls, so much potential just waiting."

Arachne and Shuala raised their hands to launch attacks. That's when a sickly squishing sound of teeth cutting through flesh filled the air.

From out of the webs, snakes coiled around their feet and sunk their fanks into their flesh.

"Medusa!" Shaula yelled.

"What are you doing?" Arachne hissed, trying to turn to her sister.

Medusa had conjured a pair of sword arrow-shaped swords and plunged them into her sister's backs. "I promised an opening."

The Thompsons both knew the hassle of trying to conjure any spell when distracted; being stabbed was one hell of a distraction. The black world and web faded away, leaving them back into the world and freeing them.

The reaper jumped up the instant they were free, and the sisters prepared every spell they could to power the attack; the guns turned to canons and charged up. 

"Farewell, sisters," Medusa whispered to them.

Arachne coughed, blood slipping from her lips, "Remember, death is only the beginning."

Medusa jumped away, and Kid began to fire.

Kami was still fighting the chainsaw, Giriko.

Marie could send electricity into her meister; this allowed the mister to move faster and react faster. This worked great for Kami; while she wasn't the strongest, she did have great agility, which worked well for her. She sped around only to find that Giriko could speed around on those spinning chains around his feet. The two clashed as they ran around the room. Every once in a while, landing a blow that cracked a bone or a cut that broke through flesh. 

Eventually, the strain of doing this took a toll on Kami, and Giriko got the upper hands.

Giriko smiled gleefully as he forced Kami to the ground, the chainsaw on his foot trying to slice the hammer. 

Marie grit her teeth as she struggled against the maddening soul. He snorted, "You know you aren't bad for a couple of old broads. We could have some fun before I slice you up."

"I'd rather die," Kami spat at him.

Marie growled, "I'm not interested in slumming it."

"Your loss," Giriko pushed in, determined to slice them both. 

They started to channel electricity into the chains, causing him pain, which slowly became a struggle to outlast the other.

When the gunshot began, Giriko was distracted and took his eyes off the women. Kami forced herself forward and pushed him off. She jumped up and swung the hammer forcing his jaw to become unhinged. She stepped closer and swung the hammer down on his head.

A few random chains cut at her skin, but as sparks shot out, Giriko screamed. His body dissolved, and his centuries-old soul was all that remained.

Maka, much like her mother, used agility to keep ahead of her opponent. Having a scythe helped; having a bit more range and keeping her opponent at a distance was crucial. It didn't take her long to realize that she couldn't kill the wolf-man; he was immortal. Every wound she inflicted healed in moments.

The wolf-man didn't attack with any intelligence; they were wide swing, feral moves as if acting on instinct. Maka used her scythe to keep him away; if she moved too much, she'd tire herself up. She'd spent a good deal of time training with her mother, and she learned to focus and think clearly in battle and to trust her instincts along with trusting Soul.

When the witches were stabbed, the wolf flinched.

Soul yelled, "Maka now!"

Maka gripped the scythe handle tightly, she channeled her soul, and she felt her and Soul resonate. The blade of the scythe grew, and energy crackled off it. 

Maka stepped forward, "Witch hunter!"

The move her mother made and helped her perfect was swung as the wolf-man sliced through his chest. There was a blast of energy as the wolf fell backward and reverted to the form of a man. The wound on his chest was massive, but he looked to be healing and that he wasn't going up anything soon.

Maka could tell he was being controlled, and she could even tell her last attack severed the spell; she saw no need to try killing him. After all, he was likely an enemy of the witches if they were forced to mind-control him.

"Lady Arachne!" Mosquito yelled; the ancient vampire in the top had served the witch longer than most people could imagine. He was the most loyal servant she had. 

He'd been trying to kill Sid but found him very capable at dodging.

He was an assassin; agility was the critical skill to that. He tried to teach his students that skill; most were concerned with power and strength, always underestimating agility. You could do more damage if you could avoid getting hit. 

"Forced Burial!"

Nygus weapon form altered into a gravestone and was engulfed into the light. Sid slammed it down, the ground beneath Mosquito opened up and swallowed him. 

Mosquito struggled as he was pulled down, his head sticking out of the ground. His mind was not concerned with his safety, just of escaping and helping his lady. If he had only a few seconds to think, he could have shrunk and escaped easily, but the fear blurred his mind. Sid jumped up and plunged the blade into his skull, quickly killing him.

His last thoughts were of the lady he had served for centuries.

The Thompsons and Kid's souls resonated with everything they had; they resonated so loud they could hear it blaring. 

A blinding white light streamed out of the barrels striking the witches. As the light consumed them, Arachne and Shaula reached for each other, the tip of their hands barely touching. They smiled as their bodies burned away; they both remembered the few rare times in their youths that they didn't involve them fighting or trying to prove who was better. 

Shaula smiled, "To the next life, my sister."

"To the next time, little sister," Arachne smiled back.

As the light faded away, the witches were gone, and two purple souls hovered there, one with spindly legs and one with a tail with a sharp end. 

An eerie quietness filled the room as they stared at the souls. 

Medusa looked at something else; on the floor remained a single spider necklace and lone Scorpio earring.


	7. Gorgons and Thompsons

**Disclaimers: I own nothing.**

* * *

Chapter 07: Gorgons and Thompsons

There had been no ceremony to it.

Liz and Patty took the witches' souls and became death scythes. 

It was been an experience. 

They felt a tremendous surge of power to their weapons and their witch powers. 

Arachnophobia fell pretty quickly; their leaders were dead or had turned on them. Those who remained didn't see much point in fighting after that.

Things slowed down then, Medusa was questioned, and they took apart the machine. 

As for Liz and Patty, they were being groomed to be the ambassadors for everyone. They weren't feeling great at the moment, though. They felt cold and oddly achy; they guessed that it was what happened when a witch weapon took a witch's soul. It didn't look like it would do them any real harm; it would just take longer to adjust. It was like getting through a nasty flu bug.

Kid and the others checked in on them, but they mostly wanted to stay alone and let it pass. It seemed like noise and light were irritating them. The sisters laid in bed together, whispering with each other, neither showing too much energy. Though, they did seem to be getting better day after day. 

In time, the school and the witches planned a huge party to celebrate the end of the threat and their new treaty. 

Kid entered their room, bringing them food; he didn't like seeing them so lethargic but was happy they seemed to be getting better. 

"Are you sure you will be okay coming to the party?" Kid asked.

Liz nodded, "Yeah, we feel a bit crummy, but we should be all set by then. Besides, this is a big deal."

Kid smiled at them.

He likes you, the thought almost whispered in the back of her head. She had promised herself that she would confess to Kid after she became a death scythe. She was nervous, she was scared, but something was urging her to try. 

She had only talked to Patty about this; she only said she had a good feeling about that. 

"I'll let you rest," Kid told the girls before pulling out two small boxes. "Medusa is still talking to my father and Mabaa, though she did ask me to deliver this to you two."

Kid left after handing them the boxes; they found the spider necklace and the Scorpio earring inside.

They both had the same note:

_Dear girls,_

_Well done, my sisters had been around a lot longer than either of you can imagine. May you be better sisters than they were in life. To kill another witch is the gravest sin for a witch; it almost funny how the Head Witch allowed it._

_Don't think I think any less of you for it or that you killed my sisters. They needed to die._

_It would be best if you remembered them. That is all I ask of you. I leave you two with what was once theirs. Please keep them as keepsakes._

_Medusa Gorgon_

Liz still felt very uncomfortable at how easy it was for Medusa to plot to kill her sisters. They had to be good sisters to each other, even at least when they were little kids. 

Patty frowned, "She helps kill her sisters and then gives us their jewelry?"

"Yeah, that lady is wacko," Liz confirmed. "Still, it's nice. Maybe she wants something to honor their memory, like since we had their souls that something of theirs stays close to them." Liz hummed to herself, "Hey, are you feeling like going dress shopping?"

"Yeah!" Patty cheered.

"Good, let's get something nice for the party."

Sometime later, the party was underway, though they had offered to let Medusa stay, she had no intention to remain any longer than she had to. The school still saw her as an enemy, she might have helped end the war, but she also helped start it. She didn't have a change of heart; she just wanted to be done with the war and go back to her own devices.

They knew they'd likely have to hunt her down sooner or later. Mabaa and Lord Death traded speeches about using this victory to foster a new peace between their people. 

Kid didn't pay too much attention to that, "Oh! How is this happening?"

The young reaper tried to fix Black Star's jacket, it kept slipping off, and he couldn't even start to fix the tie; it was a tangled mess. Kid had no idea how Black Star was going to get it off short of cutting it off.

Tsubaki was in a lovely white dress; she tried to smile as Black Star just looked bored at Kid's constant attempts to fix his wardrobe.

"Tsubaki! How could you let him walk out looking like this?!"

"I'm sorry!"

Nearby was Soul in a nice simple suit and Maka in a dark purple dress. 

Maka decided to try and distract Kid before Black Star got bored and started to fight him.

"Hey Kid, where's Patty and Liz?"

Kid's attention did turn from one meister to another, "They said I should come alone; they'd catch up and they just needed time to finish getting ready."

"And ready we are."

Their heads turned as the Thompsons moved towards them. Patty was dressed in a manner they hadn't expected. Patty was wearing a simple outfit: a long purple skirt, a white top, with a small red bow around her neck. Patty was also wearing the Scorpio earring on her left ear.

Liz was wearing a low-cut black dress that hugged her form; her hair pulled into a messy bun, all while wearing the spider necklace. She even took the chance to put on some black lipstick.

Kid was about to say something about their mismatching outfit, especially the earring, but he didn't get a chance to voice his thoughts.

Liz, with an elegance not seen in her, glided over to him and smiled, "Kid, what do you think of my dress?"

"Uh," Kid tried not to stare at specific areas, "it's a bit- uh nice but-"

"Good, I was hoping you and I could match. A black dress to go with those tight little suits of yours."

Kid started to blush.

Tsubaki looked at Liz's new confidence, and she could almost vibrate with excitement, and she suppressed a squeal. "Ah, let's give them a moment."

Tsubaki quickly pushed Black Star, Maka, and Soul away.

"Yes," Liz turned to Patty, "My dear little sister, could you give us a few minutes."

"Of course," Patty smiled, "I'll just have myself a snack."

Liz stroked Kid's face, "Would you care to dance?"

"Uh, okay." The young reaper was doing his best not to let his jaw drop. 

Nearby Maka looked confused and asked Tsubaki, who had a wide grin, "Tsubaki, what's happening?"

"Don't you see it?" Tsubaki explained, "That confidence, the way Liz is acting, she's finally going to confess to Kid."

"Uh," Black Star said, "About time, the tension has been killing me. Just say something already! Ugh, I mean, I guess it's good. I guess killing a big bad witch gave her some guts."

Soul just nodded approvingly, "Good call on the dress, you can't be too subtle with someone like Kid. Plus, he does look like he'd be into that hot goth look. It goes with his preppy Emo/goth thing he's got going."

"Emo? Goth?" Maka looked confused.

"Your total prep kid," Soul told her, the others nodding in agreement. 

"It's the sweater vest," Black Star added.

"They're comfy, and I look good in them-"Maka shook her head, "Wait, did you all know Liz liked Kid?" Again they all nodded, "She had to tell me. I'm usually so good at reading people and their emotions."

Soul just looked at her oddly, and both Black Star and Tsubaki rested their hands on his shoulder as if trying to reassure him. 

They didn't seem to believe her for some reason, trying to prove it she looked around for something. She spotted Spirit in a corner looking around before taking a long drink.

"Papa is planning something, probably going to do something stupid."

Black Star just waved it off, "Anyone would that about your old man?"

Maka looked around, trying to pull everything she learned from her detective novels, "Okay, what about Patty?"

Patty was by the food table, selecting food and carefully moving them to her plate.

Soul added, "What about Patty? She's just getting food."

"Yeah, but it's Patty; she piles the food onto her plate and eats it as fast as she can. When have you ever seen Patty do anything carefully with food."

"Good point," Black Star pointed out; having lost a lot of eating contests to Patty, he had first-hand accounts. 

Spirit was looking at his ex-wife; she was with Marie, Azusa, and some red-haired woman. Both Kami and Marie looked worse for wear, Kami had a variety of stitches on her and her left arm needed to be put in a sling. The chainsaw had done no significant damage but enough that she wouldn't be able to use it for a while. 

Looking at her broke his heart; he still loved her, and knowing she almost died was too much to take. He had to tell her that he still loved her. He took another swig of his drink and went to tell her. 

"Spirit?" Kami greeted him, confused. 

"Hi," Stein greeted him too.

He was sitting close by, just looking on as if waiting. Stein's grin didn't help him feel better.

"I need to tell you something," Spirit told her. 

Kami sighed, "You know, I've meant to tell you something too."

"Let me go first."

Maka and the other rushed over-worried.

"Maka?" Kami asked.

"Mama! Hi! We need-"

"Hello, Maka," The red-haired woman greeted her.

"Oh! Nene! It's good to see you made it." Maka blinked, "I need to talk to Stein."

What about?" Stein asked curiously.

"Ah, Patty and Liz are acting weird."

"How so?"

"Maybe it's nothing, but do the death scythes start acting odd after they become death scythes?"

They had three death scythes right there.

They shook their heads.

Kami did add, "Spirit got a little more into himself."

"I think that was just what happened with the added confidence of being a death scythe," Stein explained.

"I'm not that into myself," Spirit argued. 

Maka decided to get things back on track, "Both Liz and Patty are acting strangely. Liz is acting a lot more confident."

Marie waved that off, "I mean, that could be the same thing. I felt more self-assured after I became a death scythe."

"It would be a boost in their confidence," Azusa added, "it is natural to feel more confident in your skills after you've accomplished a difficult goal."

"Patty is also behaving and eating normally," Tsubaki told them.

They looked to the other side of the room where Patty sat calmly, having a sensible dinner of some meat, vegetables, and a few fruits. She was eating with a proper fork and knife. 

"Maybe she matured," Soul remarked, but hearing himself, "never mind,"

It wasn't that Patty couldn't be mature or eat properly; it wasn't who she was. Patty ate fast and wildly because she had to eat whatever she got and quickly before someone tried to take it from her when she was young and living on the streets. Patty didn't act mature because she didn't have to; after having such a hard life, she was given so much freedom to do whatever, so she chose to have fun, make jokes, and play around. Patty was trying to enjoy every bit of life as much as she could, almost to make up for the time she couldn't.

On the other end, Liz was dancing elegantly with Kid, moving him close. Liz was a bit shy and could be frightened easily; this would be almost the exact opposite. Yeah, Liz could stand up when she had to, but she wasn't for taking charge of something like this, especially after being so nervous about a relationship with Kid. 

As they danced, Kid blushed at Liz's sudden contact, the smell of her fragrant perfume, and looking into her sky blue eyes. 

"I've wanted to be with you for so long, Kid."

"Liz…"

"Please don't stop me. Kid, I feel something for you, something I've never felt before, and it hurts me." She grabbed his hand and placed it on her chest, "it hurt my heart, can you feel it? How my heartbeats? I need to be with you, Kid."

Liz pulled him close, their lips almost touching, "Liz?"

It took everything to pull away from Liz, "This happening so fast, and-"

"We've known each other for years; we could get to know each other better," She pushed herself next to Kid. 

"Liz?"

"We could have some time together; I can talk to my sister. I can get her to move out, and we can be together for some quality time alone,"

Kid stepped back, "You're not Liz; there is no reason, not even as a joke, that Patty should move out."

"Kid, I'm throwing myself at you. I want us to be together. And, lets'" She moved to kiss him.

BANG.

Kid and Liz had to jump apart as a blast nearly hit them.

On the other side was Stein holding Azusa in her bow gun form. Azusa had clairvoyance, and with Stein's soul perception, they noticed it at the last second and quickly transformed.

Kid looked up at Liz in shock as a black spider-web pattern formed over her left eye.

Liz sighed, "It could have been so easy."

"What's going on?" Lord Death yelled out.

"That's not Liz." Kid told him. 

Patty got off her table and started walking; her usual blue eyes shifted into a ying-yang pattern of two shades of purple. 

"Shaula! Arachne!" Mabaa growled, "What have you done?"

"Survived." Arachne in Liz's body answered.

Patty transformed into a gun and flew into her hand. 

Lord Death moved to strike her down, but before she could, Liz's eyes shifted, and the web vanished, and she screamed. Lord Death paused; he saw Liz's eyes; he saw the eyes of the girl he'd watch grow up.

The web returned, and that face of horror turned to one of wicked glee. 

Arachne fired, striking his hand, and began to open fire, even getting one in at the stunned head witch, Kid jumped to try to stop them, but a blast was fired at him and forced himself away at the last instance. The other meister nearby tried to stop her, but a web-like shield formed, blocking their attacks. 

Shaula groaned, "All you had to do was seduce a teenage boy. You are now a hot teenaged girl! You couldn't seduce a teenaged boy!"

"Quiet, sister." Arachne continued to fire. 

"Maybe I should have tried, I have the larger breast now, and you seem to think that's the most important thing."

"We can discuss your issues later!"

One of the shots headed for the group, Marie pulled Nene down and behind a table. Kami was having trouble moving with her injuries, and as a blast came directly towards her, Spirit jumped onto her, taking the hit. 

Arachne vaned her hands, and from out the shadows right beyond the window, thousands of spiders crawled in, forcing people to move behind. 

Arachne started to back away, never lower her gun. She looked back at Kid, "We could have made something beautiful."

Arachne made a web of purple light-blocking others from chasing her. A swarm of spiders formed and carried her away in the night.

Someone tried to rush past the web only to full back; they hissed in pain as they touched.

"Poison," Kid noted.

A few moments later, a group of meisters and weapons gathered around Mabaa and the Lord Death.

Mabaa explained, "Shaula was always good at poison curses," She held out her arm where it turned purple.

Lord Death held out his hand, showing the same purple oddly glowing mark. 

Kami came over, "Everyone who was hit by the shots got hit _hard_ ."

"Papa?" Maka asked, 

"He took the hit for me, but he'll pull the throw." Kami explained, "Some of the witches have helped lessen the effects; they are bringing in that witch Kim to help. They aren't in any immediate danger, and it won't be an easy recovery, but they should be fine as long as they get treatment. You-"

Mabaa waved off her concern, "We will begin our treatment soon. We need to deal with this first."

"Mama?" Maka noticed, "your bleeding,"

"Yeah, some stitches ripped. Nene went to find me some more bandages and-"

"Shouldn't you get checked up,"

"No, everyone who can help is helping people who were magically poisoned."

Marie asked, "Yeah, how do they do that? How's any of this happening?"

Stein cleared his throat; I've started to put that together. It never felt right how easy it was. Medusa set us up from the start."

"What?" Kid asked.

"Your fight, didn't seem odd how both her sisters turned their backs to Medusa when they were going to finish you off? It was staged; give you enough fight so no one would question it."

Black Star had to ask, "The witch's planned to get killed?"

"Yes," Stein confirmed, "Let's look at the witches in question; we've learned a lot about them thanks to the witches and our experience against their forces. Shaula is talented with poisons, is well known for mind manipulating magics. She also has experience manipulating weapons; a prime example is an enchanted sword in Tsubaki's family. Medusa is obsessed with evolution and excels in altering bodies and how magic can affect them. Arachne, the mother of demon weapons, knows more than most about weapons and tampering with souls. Her prized weapon, Giriko, when we first confronted him in Prague admitted he had constantly been changing his soul into the bodies of his descendants to extend his life."

Tsubaki gasped, "The witches took over Liz and Patty."

"No," Stein assured her, "It took Patty and Liz years to master how to channel their spells in their weapon forms. With Shaula's skills, a blast like that should have been fatal; even as only a demon weapon attack, it was half as strong as it should have been. She had to be using Patty's experience even to muster that."

Mabaa let out a breath in relief, "Patty and Liz are still in there?"

"I believe so. It would make sense that something of the girls remains, for the Gorgons to access and learn so they could pretend to be them."

Kid asked, "How is this possible?"

"They must have prepared the spell in parts, preparing themselves before they died. Something on their souls and taken into the Thompsons, like a virus hidden on a file, was copied over to a new computer; it was only a matter of time. The sickness and tired feeling they had been feeling for days must have been preparing them. One spell to leave their consciousness intact when they were consumed, letting them slowly influence the Thompsons, but they would need something else."

"The gift Medusa sent them?" Kid asked, "We had them checked before I gave them."

Stein nodded, "Correct; they probably needed to be worn or at least be near the consumed souls to work. We wouldn't have noticed it when not active."

Kami surmised, "Medusa played us, so let's play her back. She has to be close by; something like this would need to be monitored. Her sisters hid right in front of us; why not the third?" Kami pointed out towards the desert, though she winced, realizing the location of another open wound, "Okay, so she's hiding in the desert, and her sisters know where."

Stein nodded, "Considering spells burn out when their caster dies, she's probably the one that cast the spells in the first place. If we can kill her, it should allow Liz and Patty to regain control and process the witches' souls properly."

Lord Death nodded, "If we send out all our people, we might be able to catch up."

Mabaa shook her head, "They stayed hidden for centuries and avoided both of us; they can do that again long enough to go where Medusa is hiding."

Maka raised her hand, "I have an idea."

Minutes later, they were in the dungeon; Eruka winced, "You want to free him?"

The wolfman looked on confused," Really? I know it benefits me, but what?"

Eruka had been trying to find a way to get the eye back for the head witch. "Can you track them?" 

The wolfman thought it over, "Sure, if you have something of theirs to sniff, I can track anybody."

Eruka nodded, "We got plenty of stuff with their scents."

Mabaa looked him in the eye, "If you can help get my girls back, we will let you go. I will even ignore the fact you stole my eye."

He smiled a toothy grin, "We got ourselves a deal."

A few hours later, in their newly stolen bodies, Medusa ran a test on her sisters.

"You assert full control over them and get found out in one day," Medusa rubbed her temples. "I could have done better. You were hiding in plain sight as their allies, and they thought you dead. They weren't even looking for you."

Shaula shook her head, "If she doesn't have big breasts, she can't even seduce a hormonal teen. She had to push it, and that screw head doctor noticed her use a spell."

Arachne seethed in anger, "We always knew down the line we'd have to use a spell on Kid."

"But in plain sight?" Shaula told her sister, "if it didn't work, wait until he was asleep. That was what we planned to get what I would need."

Arachne wondered if Liz influenced her, making her act strangely; that girl was erratic when it came to Kid. 

Medusa added, "I don't get anything either; you get weapon witch bodies, I get squat."

Arachne suggested, "Cloning, we have the DNA; we could copy the bodies and make some aesthetic changes."

"Maybe," Medusa agreed, "I do have samples of DNA from your old bodies in case this wouldn't work, and we'd have to transfer you back."

Shaula questioned her, "How are our souls?"

"They are doing well, a few more minutes to an hour or two, and you should supplant those girls. You'll consume their souls instead of them consuming yours."

Outside, the others waited; they listened in. Kami couldn't move because of her open wounds, so Stein was wielding Marie. Sid and Nygus were there, ready to jump in. Black Star and Tsubaki were quiet; they knew they had to make this count and save their friends, so Black Star's usual ego and brazenness were nowhere to be seen. Maka was there with Soul, ready to attack. 

The Wolf Man, naming himself Free, agreed to help them fight; he wasn't too eager to have been mind-controlled, and finding out they were the coyote and fox witches, he felt a kinship with them. If he could save them, that would mean the witches that controlled him died, all the better. Eruka prepared explosives; as much as those two girls stressed her, they were her students; she wasn't going to see them just get eaten from the inside. 

Kid, despite not having a single weapon, had insisted on coming along. 

Azusa had used her clairvoyance to draw them up a map, so she hoped that would be enough. But she and back meisters and witches remained on stand by. 

The Head Witch and Lord Death had agreed; the Gorgon sisters had forfeited their lives one way or another they'd end. If they could kill Medusa, then they could end this right away.

Eruka set off her tadpole bombs, and explosions erupted all around the building. 

"We're under attack!" Medusa alerted, but already the lab erupted into chaos. 

Muscle memory kicked in, and Shaula's new body transformed and moved towards Arachne's new body, and they fired. For a second after, they flinched, not realizing how they reacted. 

Medusa did what they usually did and fled protecting herself.

"Liz!"

Arachne froze as she heard that name; turning around, she spotted Kid. 

The others chased after Medusa that they hadn't noticed them.

Arachne forced her hand up, pointing the gun right at his face.

"Hello, Pretty boy."

In the hall, Medusa yelled, "Vector arrows!"

From behind her, dozens of snake-like shadow arrows emerged, launching themselves at the others. Eruka wasn't all that battle-ready and couldn't react in time; lucky for her; Free jumped on her tacking the attacks. He was immortal after all; even if he got killed a hundred times, he'd get back. It worked all the same for Medusa; pinning the immortal worked all the same. 

Medusa quickly placed arrows all around her. 

Using the same trick as Kami, Stein was charged by Marie and raced at Medusa, only to step on one of those arrows and launched away into a wall.

"Tsubaki enchanted sword mode!" Black Star yelled, his weapon transforming into a sword wrapped in shadows; he sliced through the arrows jumping towards Medusa. 

Medusa conjured an arrow sword blocking it.

With an amused grin, "Oh! It's that Shaula's pet project? Not bad, well, for her. It won't be enough." 

Tsubaki yelled, the arrow sword vibrating against her, "The right spells can make it unstable."

Black Star spoke through gritted teeth, "Good thing I'm so distracting."

Sid jumped from behind Medusa and plunged his knife into her back.

Medusa screamed, but a witch that powerful and that skill refused to give him. Conjuring another arrow sword slashed back, cutting Sid's chest deeply.

"Sid!"

Black Star, in a rage, channeled all the power he could, slashing at the witch wildly; Medusa was forced to parry and block.

Stein ran over to his side, "Marie, I'm going to need your help. This wound is deep," He placed his hand over Sid's chest as he resonated with Marie. It was a high-level technique of his, using his soul wavelength to suture the wound close. It took a great deal of focus and skill.

This was the Stein that Marie saw, someone who, despite the number of dark jokes he made, he wanted to help. He was devoted to saving people even through his faults and issues. 

Though she admitted those constant jokes about dissecting someone was getting old, Kami would have eased up on him if he didn't keep making more dark jokes around her to annoy her. 

Stein instructed, "Nygus, you're going to have to do the rest,"

Nygus had already transformed back and took out a medkit. While Stein held the wound close, she'd have to use real sutures to close them permanently because the moment Stein's focus broke, his sutures would vanish, and Sid would die. So, to save her partner, Nygus had to perform surgery in the middle of a fight. 

0000

Arachne pointed the gun at the reaper's head. "At this range, you will die from a shot."

"And if you were going to do so, you would have," Kid held out his hands, 

"Do you think you are all that important? These bodies will soon be ours permanently. We can wait; let our sister slaughter your friends and take you."

"So, I am important,"

She laughed, "Not what you may hope; my spiders have been watching you."

Kid could see a spider crawling from the shadows.

"Always watching, how do you think we managed to stay ahead all this time? We saw how this girl, Liz looked at you, how she wanted you. An idea formed, we saw what a witch with weapon blood could do, we decided to add reaper into the mix?"

"Excuse me?"

"My seduction-"

"Attempt," Shula interrupted.

"My seduction of you was not a distraction. We planned to breed the only witch weapons with a reaper to create another species. A species with the best of the three. Children who would be in the perfect position to rise in power with both the witch realm and the DWMA. If it worked, you'd have caring lovers and, in time, wonderful children. We planned for three girls."

Kid was horrified, his eyes growing wide, "You planned to trade your souls into their bodies,"

"Yes, to take the next step in the evolution," Arachne smiled, "You could have been in the dark and happy, but if you found out, I always planned a spell to cloud your mind. In time accidents would happen, to the head witch, your father, and after we had no use for you…"

"Kid glared, "And the three of you in their bodies would be in a perfect position, position of power in the Witch Realm and the DWMA as our heirs."

"Heirs to the greatest powers, and live like a goddess with greater power than anyone else." She smiled at him, "A keen mind like that, I might have fallen for you, Liz certainly has. Or should I say had? I can feel it; it's almost done."

Kid smiled at her, "No, you'll have to thank Liz for helping me learn this trick when she saved me. It's my turn to save her, both of them,"

Kid was resonating with them from a distance; the magic Liz had used on him lingered; it helped connect them. 

"Liz. Patty. I'm here; please listen. You need to fight."

Arachne grew bored, "No, we can always extract DNA from a dead body." She tried to pull the trigger but couldn't.

Shaula yelled, "I can't transform! I can't-"

"That's my girls." Kid smiled to himself. 

Somewhere in the dark, Liz and Patty clung to each other; they felt a web pulling them down into the darkness and something stinging at them, weakening them, 

In the dark, they heard Kid call to them," Liz, Patty, stay strong. We are coming for you. You two are my family, and no matter what, I won't let you two go. There is a lot I want to do with you, a lot I want to tell you two."

There was a light in the darkness, and out came Kid's hands reaching out for theirs. It took everything, but they reached for him back, pulling from the webs.

0000

Medusa was confident; this battle had become of stamina. And her sister's creation had one major fault; it drains the user's energy quickly. Black Star was doing an incredible job using it, but that could only go so far.

Black Star was confident in himself.

"Now Black Star!" Maka's voice erupted behind Black Star.

Maka came rushing behind him, "Tsubaki, power down."

The sword transformed into something less dangerous to her mister's health, and he fell back. Medusa conjured arrows all before Maka; she leaped onto the nearby wall and pushed off the wall towards Medusa. 

Maka wasn't the fastest, but she paid attention, she noticed when Stein touched the arrow. She knew how Black Star would fight until someone he trusted stepped up. She even the vector arrows were more difficult for Medusa to make while fighting.

In mid-air, Maka charged the attack, the scythe blade grew and energy-charged in it. "Witch hunter!"

The same move her mother had made and helped her perfect. Medusa moved to block the attack, but her reaction was slow; Maka was attacking at the side where Sid landed a blow, it left an opening, and Medusa realized it. 

Medusa saw white light as the scythe blade reached her neck, and with a swing, her head was separated from her body.

Archane and Shaula trembled as they felt Liz and Patty struggle against them. They assured themselves that this was the last attempt as their lives floated away. 

There was a snap.

And both of them spoke, "Medusa,"

Shaula and Arachne found themselves in a white void as two shadows crept behind them, one shaped like a coyote and a fox. The shadows grew, and their jaws opened wide. The white voided faded away as a fox chomped on a scorpion, and a coyote ate up a spider.

Sparks shot out of their bodies as everything fell into place as it should have been.

Liz collapsed to the ground, dropping the gun. Kid's arms soon wrapped themselves around Liz, helping her steady her body.

"Kid? Is that you?"

"Yes, it's okay now. Everything will be fine, I promise you."

"Your promise?"

"Liz? Remember when I told you I knew that Soul likes Maka? You asked me how I knew. It's simple because I also liked a girl who never seemed to notice I liked her."

"Oh, is she nice?"

"She's stunning and strong and kind."

"Cool, when do I get to meet her?"

"Liz!"

"I know, I know, I just wanted to hear more nice things," Liz buried her face in his chest; she felt it turning bright red, made ever redder as Kid kissed the top of her head.

"Yay! I knew it!" A tired sound Patty transformed back and hugged them, "I know I'm ruining the moment, but I'm tired and want a hug too."

Liz and Kid pulled Patty into a hug too.


	8. In the End

**Disclaimers: I own nothing.**

* * *

Chapter 08: In the End

The world continued in peace, the Witch Realm and DWMA finished their peace talks thanks to Liz and Patty, girls who could stand both sides. DWMA would hunt down the kishin, and the witches would help them fight those witches that were too dangerous. On a case-by-case basis, they would decide what should be done to them. 

There might never be another death scythe; well, there would be one more at least. Maka and Soul killed Medusa and were allowed to use her soul to make Soul into a death scythe when the time was right. Soul still needed another few more kishin souls to finish. But one day soon.

Liz teased him that when he did become a death scythe, he should take a page from her book. 

Eruka found herself working for DWMA, a few witches were interested in becoming meister, and she was there to help them. 

Soul was cooking something in their kitchen as Maka read a book while a purple cat slept on her lap. 

"Hey, Soul?" Maka asked. 

"Yeah, Maka,"

"I've been thinking, Liz and Kid both liked each other, and they didn't think the other person liked them. I can't help but think how strange that is. Like they lived with each other, they risked their lives together. How couldn't they see it? How couldn't they trust each other? Fear? Like anyone with that strong of a relationship should never have anything to fear by admitting their feelings. I don't understand it. How can something like that happened."

"Uh, y-yeah," Soul's voice cracked. "I don't know."

Soul grumbled; he was sure that cat was now awake and laughing to herself. 

Maka sighed, "I'm not the most romantic person, but if someone liked me, I would hope they would have the courage to say something."

"What would you tell them?" Soul couldn't help but ask.

"I don't know; it depends on the person who said."

"Hey Maka,"

"Yes, Soul?"

"…come here and help me cook; we are cooking dinner for your mom."

"Sure, mom is bringing a guest, so let's make sure we make enough."

0000

Eruka was walking down the halls of the school.

"So, I think you should ask her out." Eruka heard Patty speak, "Look, a fox to a wolf, let me tell you are her type. Eruka likes big men with muscles, and that's you."

Eruka peeked around the corner to see Patty talking to Free.

Eruka pulled back to hide.

"Look, if I can help a witch get with a reaper, I can find anyone love," Patty continued.

Now blushing wildly, Eruka pulled her hat over her face, "That girl is going to be the death of me. Ribbit."

0000

Sid woke up in a hospital bed with Nygus sitting beside him, "You know, Stein does much better stitching."

Nygus huffed, "Well, he was busy keeping you alive. Next, if you want, I can try trading place."

"No, no, I'll learn to deal with the scars."

"You'd better; it looked like you were about to die. Stein was saying he was ready to turn you into a zombie."

Sid chuckled, "That will be the day; you know I'm not going to leave you; I'm not that kind of man."

0000

Black Star himself didn't care if they turned Tsubaki into a death scythe. Tsubaki had only joined the school to help track down her brother and stayed because of Black Star.

Black Star would always work to grow stronger. 

He found someone that could help with that; he found a sparring partner, a samurai called Mifune. Fighting him with the enchanted sword pushed him and his skills.

A small witch cheered them on as they spared, "Go get him, Mifune!"

The samurai had found the witch and protected her by himself against gangsters, kishin, and even Arachnophobia. The witches at the school, Aria and Lisa, were now helping her develop her powers.

0000

In the Death Room, both Mabaa and Lord Death were being scolded.

"You are idiots!" Kami yelled at them, "I'm half considering killing both of you and doing your kids a favor."

"That's a dark joke," Mabaa pointed out. 

"I wasn't joking,"

"I don't think I can die." Lord Death added. 

"I can try."

Both of them looked at each other, not wanting to push Kami anymore.

Kami snarled at them, actually growled; she had been looking at their previous agreement to see what they would carry over. "I can't believe you thought this was a good idea,"

Mabaa explained, "It's a tradition to solidify power between two sides."

"You arranged a marriage to Kid and the Thompson sisters."

Lord Death objected, "One of them, probably, I was going to see if anything happened between them. Plus, it was going to be mostly ceremonial. I wasn't going to make them-"

"No, shut up. Arranged marriages, okay, have worked in some cultures, but not in the culture the ones kids grew up in. What you are doing is telling them you decided how they would live out the rest of their lives. Ugh!" Kami rubbed her neck, "Look, I get what you were trying to do, but this could have been greatly upsetting for them, alienating them badly. Okay, look, we are just not going to talk about this. Let things play out on their own. I swear, if Liz ever hears of this, she will do a lot worse, just the idea Patty might have married Kid."

Kami just shook her head. 

0000

Stein was reading a book at his desk; there was much to learn, they had gotten the journals left behind from the Gorgon sisters, and it could provide invaluable clues. 

Marie was nearby and opened a window letting in both some fresh air and light. "I can't believe you hold yourself up here every day. The air is so stuffy, and you didn't even bother to open a window."

Stein smiled to himself; he had always found Marie's presence calming; it was nice to have her around. Marie didn't seem like she wanted to leave.

And he didn't see any reason to force her away.

0000

Spirit was waiting by the nurse's office; Kami went in after her meeting to get the last of her stitches removed. He was sure this was the time; he was going to confess that he still loved her. 

He heard them tell Kami that she was free to go, and he steeled himself. 

Kami stepped out, "Spirit?"

"Kami," He looked her in the eyes, "there was something I wanted to tell you."

"Yeah, there is something I wanted to say too."

"Kami!" That redhead Nene walked down the hall and up to Kami. "Ready to go?" Nene leaned over, kissed Kami, and took her hand. 

Spirit stared, blinking, confused.

"Oh! Your Spirit! Kami told me a lot about you; I think we've introduced each other. I'm Nene; I'm Kami's fiancé."

Spirit blinked, "Fiancé?"

"Yeah," Kami nodded.

"So you are…" Spirit looked at his ex,

"Pan, actually, something I learned about myself after we broke up. After all, it's the soul is all that matters." Kami squeezed Nene's hand and smiled. "And she's got a good soul, and well, I love her."

Nene blushed a little, "I love hearing you say that; I love you too."

"Great!" Spirit clapped his hands together, "Does Maka know?"

"Maka and Nene met a couple of years ago." Kami confirmed, "You're the last person we have to tell; some people thought you might not take it well. Stein asked me to allow him to be here when I told you. He even offered me money."

"Pfffft! No, I- I want you to be happy. It didn't work between us, but I do want happiness for you." Spirit smiled, 

"Yeah, that's what I want for you too." Kami returned the smile. 

"I got things to do, so goodbye." He walked away, he did want Kami happy, but it would take some time to accept there wasn't any hope for them anymore.

Nene raised an eyebrow, "Is he okay?"

Kami shrugged, "I don't know, I hope he will be. Anyway," Kami smiled, "let's head to Maka's. She and Soul wanted us over for dinner."

Kami sighed; she knew she'd have to refund Stein his money.

0000

In Death Manor, Liz and Kid found themselves alone together; they held each other as they kissed. They loved Patty but were glad to get a chance to be alone together. They couldn't ask her for some alone time because she asked if they would do the deed.

And that sort of ruined the mood and the chance for any of that to happen. 

So, in this brief window, they had to make the most of it. 

Liz giggled a little as Kid finished kissing her on one side of her neck and started to show some love to the other side. If there was a hickey, he had to make sure it was symmetrical.

Maybe someday there would be a weapon/witch and reaper hybrid, not yet and not for YEARS. Eventually, she wouldn't mind, no Liz would love to have a baby together. She knew nothing would take them apart, so planning for the future just seemed right.

They leaned back onto the sofa, Liz sliding Kid's jacket as they continued to kiss. 

SLAM!

"Hey! I'm home!" Patty kicked open the door.

Things came to a screeching halt when I noticed them making out on the couch. Patty stared at them, stuck in the same position the couple stared back.

"…."

"…"

"…."

Patty started to walk backward and close the door.

Patty then opened it slightly, "Hey, I'll be back in a couple of hours. You two have fun. And remember, Patty Jr. is a pretty name for a baby."

Patty closed the door and ran off.

Kid and Liz just stared before Kid said, "We have to start locking doors."

"No, she knows how to pick them."

Kid chuckled as he held Liz, as hectic as their lives could get for the moment everything seem perfect.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author’s Notes: Another year another Resbang, last year was a crazy year a crazy year. Like, I actually skipped 2020 because I was doing stuff, and then found myself with extra time so in retrospect I kinda wish I did sign up for last years resbang. I don’t think i had any idea for that years theme but still.
> 
> Anyway, this years theme was season of the witch. My idea was something to do with a peace treaty with the witches and it evolved into this. I kinda wish I saved the term witch pistol for like a western AU. 
> 
> Still, I wanted to try something new. I know theres a lot of stories with Maka being a witch so I wanted to try something a bit different and I hope I accomplished that.
> 
> I hope you guys liked this story and leave a review. 


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